


Can I Come In?

by SailorChibi



Series: 2020 Lovesquare Prompt Months [5]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir Identity Reveal, Episode Fix-It: s03 Ladybug, F/M, First Kiss, Fluff and Angst, Happy Ending, Hugging, Identity Reveal, Kissing, Ladrien June, Ladrien June 2020, Ladrien | Adrien Agreste/Marinette Dupain-Cheng as Ladybug, Lila Rossi Lies, Lila Rossi salt, Marinette Dupain-Cheng Needs a Hug, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug Has Anxiety, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug Identity Reveal, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug Is So Done, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug Needs a Break, Oblivious Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir, Oblivious Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir and Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Oblivious Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, POV Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir, Plagg Is So Done (Miraculous Ladybug), Pre-Reveal Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Protective Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir, Protective Plagg (Miraculous Ladybug), Running Away, Secret Identity Reveal, episode s03: Ladybug, ladrien, parental criticism, so spoilers for that particular episode, takes place during the episode ladybug, well that they both know of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-01
Updated: 2020-06-30
Packaged: 2021-03-02 17:14:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 30
Words: 23,735
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24490381
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SailorChibi/pseuds/SailorChibi
Summary: A certain designer classmate of Adrien's is missing. There is a certain black-spotted heroine squatting in Adrien's bedroom. Surely those two things are not related...A story for Ladrien June 2020.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Series: 2020 Lovesquare Prompt Months [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1619614
Comments: 679
Kudos: 1696





	1. My Prince

**Author's Note:**

> And we're back with Ladrien June. I've had this idea in mind since like February and I'm really excited to finally be able to work on it. Hoping for daily updates on this one too, but bear with me as the month continues.
> 
> Note before you read: I don't control the prompts; they were chosen by the Ladrien discord server. I pride myself on including every prompt in a chapter somehow, but if you're looking for a story that is _solely_ dedicated to the prompts then this is not the story for you.

“Plagg, claws in.”

“It’s about time! Do you know how tired I am? How long you’ve been out?! You owe me – wait, what’s wrong?”

Adrien glanced up at his kwami, a little surprised by the sudden, intent look in Plagg’s eyes. “Nothing’s wrong,” he lied.

Plagg folded his arms over his chest. “Kid, I wasn’t born yesterday. You’ve been out for hours _and_ we’re not even home.” He cast a pointed glance around the cramped alley that Adrien was huddled in, as opposed to a spacious bedroom.

“It’s really nothing,” Adrien said, fishing for a wedge of cheese. It wasn’t often that his miraculous would run down even without the use of Cataclysm, but it could happen if Plagg grew tired enough. He’d decided against making a last-minute dash for the mansion and opted to de-transform and feed his kwami before he went home instead. That was all.

“Riiiiiight,” Plagg said skeptically. “it’s Ladybug, isn’t it?”

“Wh-what? No!”

“Please don’t tell me you’re keeping me out so that you can flirt even more with her. I keep telling you, Ladybug is never going to swoon into your arms and call you “My Prince” and kiss your –”

Adrien was blushing furiously. “That is _not_ what this is about!”

“So it _is_ about something,” Plagg said, triumphant now, and Adrien’s scowl deepened. You’d think he would be used to Plagg cheating by now, but somehow Plagg always managed to surprise him. 

“Fine,” he muttered. “Ladybug was acting weird tonight, that’s all.”

“Weird how?” Plagg asked, stuffing the cheese in his mouth and chewing obnoxiously loud. Adrien rolled his eyes and tuned the sound out, thinking back over his and Ladybug’s patrol that night.

There wasn’t any one thing that he could put his finger on, that was the problem. But _something_ wasn’t right. Ladybug had been on edge and restless all night, alternately driving herself until she was panting from exertion and dropping down onto rooftops to curl up in a little ball. At all times, she’d been quieter than usual and had none of her normal humor.

He had tried to ask her if there was anything wrong, but she had shut down that line of questioning quickly. And while that wasn’t surprising, given her persistent reluctance to sharing anything about their civilian lives, it _was_ frustrating. Even though he could tell that she was upset, he couldn’t do anything to fix it or even be a listening ear when she wouldn’t talk about it. 

He rubbed a hand over his face and sighed. Truth be told, he hadn’t pried as much as he normally would have. After the day he’d had, he was exhausted too. 

“I don’t know exactly, but I could tell that something was bothering her. She didn’t want to talk about it.”

“Hmm.” Plagg swallowed his cheese.

“I hated to leave,” Adrien admitted, looking up at the rooftop above him. “I could tell that Ladybug didn’t want me to go, even though it’s way past the time when we usually go home. I feel bad.”

“You can’t stay out all night,” Plagg pointed out.

“I know.” Adrien folded his arms over his chest. It was cold and the wind was picking up. He hoped that Ladybug had gone home by now. 

“Got any more cheese?” Plagg asked hopefully.

Adrien sighed. “I guess that means I’m walking, huh? In the pocket.” He gave a small smile as Plagg eagerly dived into his pocket and slipped out of the alley, turning in the direction of the mansion.

But he hadn’t gone far before he noticed a familiar shadow overhead. Ladybug’s red uniform didn’t blend into the night sky very well; against the bright lights, she stood out like a beacon. Adrien’s eyes tracked her presence, and he quickly realized that she was following him. Why hadn’t she gone home? 

He stopped walking.

Ladybug hid.

Adrien contemplated his options, then summoned his courage and called out, “Ladybug? Is that you?”

There was a pause.

“Ladybug?”

Finally, her face appeared over the side of the rooftop. She peered down at him. Adrien smiled up at her and waved. Ladybug hesitantly waved back. He almost thought she’d run when she took out her yoyo – but instead, she wound it around the edge of the roof and then jumped off, lowering herself to the ground.


	2. Public eye

“Hi,” Adrien said softly. 

“Hi,” Ladybug replied, equally quiet. “It’s, um, it’s pretty late. What are you doing out, Adrien?”

“I couldn’t sleep,” Adrien said, which wasn’t technically a lie. His mind had been spinning all day, trying to figure out what to do about Marinette and Lila. He had been hoping that patrol and Ladybug would serve as a distraction, but instead seeing Ladybug had only made him feel worse. He was more worried than ever.

“Me either,” Ladybug said, and Adrien looked over at her. She looked even more tired now, her face cast in shadows and shoulders slumped.

“Are you okay?” Adrien said before he could stop himself.

Ladybug blinked at him.

“Uh – sorry. That was – you probably don’t want to talk about –”

“I had a really bad day,” Ladybug burst out.

Adrien stopped. It was his turn to blink.

“It was just… really bad, and I can’t stop thinking about it. I thought coming out for patrol might make me feel better, but –” She gulped, looking close to tears, and Adrien had already taken a step towards her before he realized that he wasn’t transformed.

He stopped again, torn.

On the one hand Ladybug was finally talking about what was bothering her.

On the other hand she was doing it with _Adrien_ , who she barely knew.

Why hadn’t she confided in her partner?

“I’ve been going over it again and again and I’m not getting any closer to an answer, but I have to figure something out and soon because my whole reputation will be ruined otherwise!” Ladybug finished loudly. His heart nearly stopped when she furtively swiped at her eyes, brushing away a tear.

“Why don’t you walk me home?” Adrien suggested, glancing around. They were in the public eye here, and even though it was late, he was very aware that someone could walk by and see them. That wouldn’t bode well for either one of them.

“Sure,” Ladybug said, quieter now, and sniffed as she fell into step beside him. 

“Is it something you can talk about?” Adrien asked, deciding to set aside his hurt feelings for now. His lady needed someone to lean on, and he wanted to be there for her in any way that he could.

“Not – not really. I shouldn’t have said as much as I did,” Ladybug said, even though what she had said wasn’t very much at all when Adrien thought about it. All he knew was that she had a problem and she didn’t know what to do about it. Hardly something that was going to reveal her identity.

“Well, if you decide you’d like to talk, I’m always here,” he said as kindly as he could, and was rewarded with a tearful smile.

“Thanks,” she whispered.

They walked along in silence for a while. Adrien shoved his hands in his pockets and wondered if he should press her for more details. She never liked it when Chat did that, but perhaps she’d react differently to someone else?

The thought stung.

“Do you want to talk?” Ladybug asked suddenly.

“What?” Adrien said, startled.

“You said you couldn’t sleep either, and you’re out so late,” she said.

“Oh, uh. Just… my dad is being a dick,” Adrien said, shrugging.

“My parents are part of the problem too,” Ladybug said. “I really don’t want to go back home.”

“So what will you do?” Adrien asked, looking over at her. She wasn’t looking back at him, instead staring off in the direction of the Eiffel Tower.

“Dunno. Maybe I’ll just camp out on the tower.”

That bothered him. Once or twice, he and Ladybug had fallen asleep together after patrol – but he didn’t like the idea of her sleeping outside alone. It was silly because she was _Ladybug_ and it was very unlikely that anything would happen, yet Adrien was never more aware that she was a regular girl behind the mask then at moments like this.

“Come home with me,” he blurted out.

Ladybug stopped and stared. “What?”

“You can stay on my couch,” Adrien said, feeling his face grow warm at her scrutiny. “I promise it’s much more comfortable than a steel beam.”

She kept staring and his face got hotter; he had screwed up and he knew it. It seemed that it didn’t matter whether he was Chat Noir or Adrien Agreste, he just couldn’t get it right –

“Okay,” Ladybug said.

“Okay?” Adrien echoed, stunned, and she nodded, biting her lip.


	3. Comfort

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just as an fyi, I had to temporarily turn off anon comments because of a troll.

They walked the rest of the way in silence. Adrien’s heart was pounding against his ribs – or maybe that was the feeling of Plagg’s claws pinching him; he knew that Plagg was probably torn somewhere between outrage and facepalming at how stupid Adrien was being right now, but Adrien couldn’t help himself. If, for whatever reason, Ladybug was only willing to accept help from his civilian self, then by god he’d do whatever he could as a civilian.

“How do you usually get in and out of your house?” Ladybug asked as they neared the mansion, and Adrien panicked. He couldn’t exactly tell her that getting in and out as Chat Noir was no sweat.

“Trees,” he said quickly. “I climb the trees on either side of the fence to get in and out, and then there’s a way to scale the house… it’s not very safe, but it works.” He carefully didn’t look at her, so missed the worried frown that crossed her face.

“That sounds kind of dangerous,” she said hesitantly.

Adrien shrugged. “It’s worth it,” he said, very quietly. Truth be told he really had left the mansion that way a couple of times before he became Chat Noir, and it was every bit as dangerous as Ladybug thought it was. That was why he hadn’t done it very often, but sometimes he’d just needed an escape.

“Right,” Ladybug said. “Tonight, it’ll be much easier.” A gloved hand was suddenly thrust beneath Adrien’s nose.

He stared at the hand for a moment. Then his eyes slowly traveled up her wrist and arm, over her shoulder and the curve of her neck, to her jawbone and then to the familiar blue eyes. She was watching him, and the intensity of her stare was enough to make the hair on his arms stand up. 

“What?” he croaked, and Ladybug gave a crooked smile. 

“Come here,” she said, wiggling her fingers. “I can use my yoyo to get us both into your room.”

“Oh,” Adrien said, because of course that was what she’d meant, and willed his heart to stop racing as he slid his hand into hers. He was used to touching Ladybug, of course, because the nature of akuma battling was such that Chat Noir and Ladybug were in constant contact. An arm around a waist or shoulder, a playful punch to the shoulder or a triumphant fist bump, one of them landing on the other, one of them picking up the other – all of those things were regular occurrences.

This, though. This was Adrien’s bare hand timidly clasping Ladybug’s gloved hand. There had never been such little barriers between them when there wasn’t an akuma around. He couldn’t tear his eyes away from the way his skin looked next to her red and black spots. 

And the way she held his hand... it was firm, but so much gentler than the way she would have held onto Chat Noir. Her fingers wrapped securely around his, thumb pressing into his knuckles, and it was – Adrien couldn’t help a wry smile as the word popped into his head.

Comforting.

Ladybug was _comforting_.

How ironic.

He was supposed to be the one offering comfort to her, yet with one touch she had made his whole night infinitely better.

“Ready?” Ladybug asked.

Adrien glanced up, realizing that he’d been standing there staring at their hands like an idiot, and flushed. “Oh, uh, sure.”

He wasn’t prepared for her to pull him in or for her to let go of his hand. He definitely wasn’t prepared for the arm that slid around his waist. He froze, a thin whine trapped behind his clenched teeth.

“Is – is this okay?” Ladybug asked, her voice significantly higher in pitch. 

Words. Words were a thing, Adrien thought, yet he couldn’t seem to give voice to any. He stared dumbly at the forearm wrapped snugly around his waist. Her hand was pressed against his opposite hip. His shoulder was pressed against her side. She was warm, a solid line of inescapable heat, and he was sure that his face rivalled the color of her suit.

“Adrien?”

“Yeah! Yeah, it’s – it’s great,” Adrien squeaked. He risked a peek at Ladybug and saw that she was blushing too, and that she was trying not to look at him.

That brought a splash of cold water down on him, as he realized that his awkwardness was probably making her uncomfortable. A little ashamed, because this was just Ladybug helping out a civilian, he forced a smile on his face and nodded.

“Okay,” Ladybug said; she took a deep breath and then wound up her yoyo, gently tossing it towards the house. Their feet left the ground a moment later.


	4. Emilie

With her usual grace, Ladybug swung them up to the ledge of his room. There, she bent forward, letting Adrien’s weight take him the rest of the way until he was standing on the floor of his bedroom. He was both saddened and grateful for the moment when her hand left his midsection; he missed her touch immediately, but knew it was probably for the best that they were no longer touching.

“Are you going to come in?” he asked, noticing that she was still perched on the ledge.

Ladybug hesitated, her eyes sweeping across the expanse of his room. Adrien didn’t need to look to know what she was seeing. He usually took care of keeping his room tidied up, but once a week the maids would come in and do a more thorough cleaning.

So right now, Ladybug was seeing a room that didn’t even look as though someone lived there. Every little thing would have been picked up and put away, smoothing all traces of personality from the room until it looked more like a guest room than a teenager’s bedroom. The thought made Adrien smile bitterly, but he hastily wiped the expression from his face before Ladybug’s eyes returned to him.

“I don’t want to impose,” she said uncertainly. 

“You’re not. If you don’t want to go home, I’d rather you stayed here. I’d worry about you all night otherwise,” Adrien admitted.

“Really?” she whispered, staring at him.

Adrien nodded.

That seemed to be the deciding factor, as first one foot and then the other touched the floor. Ladybug straightened up slowly and shivered. 

“You’re cold?” Adrien said, instantly concerned. She’d felt warm earlier, but he knew how easily she got chilled.

“I’m okay,” Ladybug said, but she wrapped her arms around herself.

“Here,” he said, moving over to the cupboards beneath his bookshelf. He pulled out a quilt and, after a split second during which he wrestled with himself over whether it would be too familiar to just go ahead and wrap the quilt around her, held it out to her instead.

“Thanks,” Ladybug said softly, shaking it out.

He stepped past her, leaning up to pull the window shut. He drew the curtains before turning around – and then he froze. Ladybug always seemed larger than life, but right now, dwarfed by the quilt, she looked very small. Fragile. Like she needed to be protected.

Luckily, she didn’t notice the path his thoughts had taken. She was examining the quilt, and finally said, “This is really pretty.”

“It was my mom’s,” Adrien said. He didn’t have much left of Émilie Agreste; the day after she passed away, Gabriel had swept through the mansion like a hurricane and gathered up all of her things. Adrien assumed – hoped – that they were merely hidden away somewhere, and that his father hadn’t thrown them out. He had managed to keep this quilt, a couple old photographs, and one of her rings, but that was it.

“Your mom’s? Oh, I shouldn’t –”

Adrien shook his head and reached out a hand to stop her from taking the quilt off. “Don’t. I think she would’ve wanted you to use it.” He smiled at her. He never used the quilt. It hurt too much. Seeing Ladybug wrapped up in it made the pain a sweeter ache.

“If you’re sure,” Ladybug said, slowly rewrapping herself. “It’s very well made. Did she make it?”

“God no,” he said, chuckling at the thought. “Mére stabbed herself with a sewing needle more times than I can count.”

Ladybug smiled. “You get used to it after a while, but it does hurt the first couple of times.”

“You sew?” Adrien asked innocently. Of course, he knew that she did. She had dropped that little tidbit on patrol one morning, that she frequently made her own clothing, and he had carefully shored it away along with what little else he knew. But Adrien wasn’t supposed to know that.

“Sometimes,” she said cagily. “Not as much as I used to. Being Ladybug takes up a lot of time.”

“I can appreciate that,” Adrien said with a nod. “So, can I get you anything from your kwami?”

The question was out before he could stop himself, and for a moment he panicked because shit he wasn’t supposed to know that word –

But Ladybug didn’t seem to find the question unusual. She said, “Some cookies would be great.”

“Right. Cookies,” Adrien said, belatedly remembering Sass. Of course it was okay for Adrien to know about a kwami. He just had to be _really_ careful about _how much_ he knew, given that, as far as Ladybug knew, Adrien had only ever seen a kwami that once time.

“Thanks,” Ladybug said.

“No problem.” He all but ran for the door before he could say something truly stupid and sagged against it once it was closed behind him.

“Kid, this is probably your stupidest decision ever,” said Plagg, head popping out of Adrien’s shirt.

And honestly, Adrien couldn’t find it in himself to disagree.


	5. Tongue-tied

After a moment, Adrien pushed himself off the door and slowly made his way down the hall. The mansion was dark and quiet, and anyone else would’ve thought that all of its occupants were sound asleep – but Adrien knew better than to jump to that assumption. His father’s sleep patterns were sporadic at best, and more than once Adrien had ventured downstairs for a midnight snack only to nearly have a heart attack when Gabriel appeared.

So he was as quiet as possible as he went into the kitchen, not even turning on a light. He took some cheese from the fridge for Plagg to scarf down and then opened the cupboards to look for cookies. The only thing he could find were some store-bought cookies that must have belonged to Natalie; Gabriel frowned on dessert, so sweets were a rare commodity around here.

If Ladybug stayed, he’d have to see about getting Tikki something better than this.

That gave Adrien pause, and he frowned as he put half a dozen cookies on a small plate. Ladybug couldn’t stay with him for long, even though he would gladly let her. They both had school, and her parents would be worried. She had to go home tomorrow, right?

“I want more cheese,” Plagg said, right in Adrien’s ear, and Adrien shook his head.

“You just ate four pieces. No way,” he said, putting the box back. Uncertain if Ladybug would also be hungry, he rummaged around until he found some cold chicken and bread. Not exactly a feast fit for a heroine, but there wasn’t much else he had to offer when he didn’t want to turn anything on.

He added a couple glassed of water to the tray and carried it all back upstairs. Balancing it carefully with one hand, he opened the door and stuck his head into the room. His heart twisted when he saw that it was empty and he thought maybe Ladybug had gone –

But then a red kwami phased through the bathroom door.

“Hello!” Tikki said brightly. “I needed to recharge, so Ladybug went into the bathroom. I hope you don’t mind.”

“Not at all,” Adrien said, gently kicking the door shut. He mouthed the words ‘it’s nice to see you again’ at Tikki and she giggled.

“Are those cookies for me?” she asked hopefully, flying over to him.

“Yeah. I brought up food for Ladybug too if she’s hungry,” Adrien said, setting the tray down.

Tikki’s face softened. “That’s very kind of you, Adrien, thank you.” The significant look Tikki gave him suggested that she was thanking him for more than just the food; he understood and reached out to lightly pat Tikki on the head. Neither one of them liked the idea of Ladybug spending a cold, lonely night outside.

“Hey Tik,” Plagg said, poking his head out of Adrien’s pocket.

“Plagg! Shh! Ladybug might hear you!” Adrien hissed.

Naturally, Plagg ignored him and said, “Is your girl normally as tongue-tied as my boy? I swear, I am honestly _shocked_ that he has gotten more than one word out –”

“Oh my god I hate you so much,” Adrien snapped, shoving Plagg’s head back down.

Tikki was laughing. “Don’t worry, Adrien. I don’t think she heard. She said something about a shower actually, but she wasn’t sure if you’d mind.”

Adrien instantly went over to the bathroom, ignoring the fact that Plagg slipped from his pocket as he went, and knocked. “Ladybug?”

There was no response at first, but then there was a light tap against the door.

At first he was puzzled, but then he understood.

Ladybug didn’t want to speak less he recognize her civilian voice.

A pang of disappointment went through him even as the thought sparked a fresh bout of curiosity. Did that mean he _would_ recognize Ladybug’s voice if he heard it? Had they met as civilians? Did they know each other?

He took a deep breath and tried to focus. “Tikki said you wanted to take a shower. Please do if you want to. There are towels in the cupboard and there should be a spare toothbrush in the bottom drawer.”

Again, there was the light tap as a response. He laid a hand on the door, wishing they could just speak honestly face-to-face, and wondered if she was doing the same from the other side.

Probably not. That was just his flight of fancy kicking in. With a regretful sigh, he went back to Tikki and Plagg.


	6. Surprise visit

The sound of the shower lasted for about an hour. Adrien had no idea whether that was normal for Ladybug. His instinct was to say that it wasn’t, but then again it wasn’t like he and Ladybug regularly discussed their beauty routines on patrol: he was always wary of saying too much. Most teenaged boys didn’t spend hours on their face and hair out of necessity.

“Do you think she’s okay?” he asked Plagg quietly.

Plagg sighed. “Honestly? No.”

“That’s what I thought.” Adrien pulled his knees up to his chin, wrapping his arms around his knees. He had tried to ask Tikki a couple of questions, but Tikki had merely shaken her head, taken the cookies, and flown back into the bathroom.

Had she done that to avoid answering his questions, or because she was that worried about Ladybug that she didn’t want to leave Ladybug alone?

“This isn’t good,” Plagg said, landing on Adrien’s right knee. 

“I know. I wish she would talk to me,” Adrien said unhappily, looking over at the bathroom. It might have stung at first that Ladybug had given more details to Adrien than she had to Chat, but he would gladly ignore that if she would only talk about whatever was bothering her so much. 

“Giving you too many details would probably give away her identity,” Plagg said wisely. “You know how Ladybug feels about that.”

“I know. I also know how isolating that can be,” Adrien murmured. He understood Ladybug’s reasoning. He really did. But sometimes it was maddening to know that no one except for a couple of kwami and Master Fu knew both sides of him. Sometimes he just wanted to be able to talk to Nino about his crush on Ladybug and not have his feelings dismissed as a celebrity crush or be able to tell Ladybug about a funny thing that had happened at a modelling job.

He thought that Ladybug was probably having the same problem right now. Besides Tikki, Plagg and Master Fu, there was no one she could really talk to either. It was easy for that pressure to build up and feel suffocating. 

“You’re going to have to keep an eye on her,” said Plagg.

Adrien bobbed his head, biting his lower lip. If Ladybug got akumatized –

“Hey. Kid, she’s going to be fine,” Plagg said, his voice taking on a soothing note. “Ladybug has a good head on her shoulders.”

“That doesn’t always mean a whole lot when Hawkmoth is around,” Adrien said, very quietly. The hair on the back of his neck prickled. He sat upright as the bathroom suddenly opened.

Luckily, Plagg was used to surprise visits from Gabriel and Nathalie and threw himself behind a pillow.

“Sorry I took so long,” Ladybug said, stepping out amidst a cloud of steam.

“No problem,” Adrien said. He hadn’t even heard the water shut off. He was going to have to be a lot more careful.

“Tikki said you had some food?” she said tentatively.

“Oh, yeah. Right there. Help yourself,” Adrien said. Now he wondered if she’d even eaten dinner today. Had she even gone home after school? Did her parents know where she was?

Well, of course they didn’t. She might have made up a story. Told them that she was staying the night at a friend’s, which wouldn’t technically be a lie…

“Thanks,” Ladybug said, padding over to the desk. 

“I know you can’t tell me very much, but is there anything I can do to help?” Adrien asked.

Ladybug tensed, but just as quickly relaxed. Her face softened. “That’s kind of you, but… I don’t think there’s much that anyone can do to help even if I could tell you everything.”

“Right,” Adrien said. Of course he couldn’t help. 

“I’m just having a problem with a girl I know,” Ladybug said, and he looked over at her in surprise. Ladybug didn’t meet his eyes, instead staring down at where she was tearing apart a piece of bread.

“That sucks,” he said, with as much sympathy as he could convey in two words, and she flashed him a small smile.

“Yeah… it really does. I’ll figure it out. Somehow. I just needed some space to clear my head, that’s all. Thanks again for letting me stay here.”

“You’re always welcome here,” Adrien said, meaning it, and was rewarded with another one of her gorgeous smiles.


	7. Second chance

Ladybug was nearly finished eating when she let out a huge yawn. She immediately clapped a hand over her mouth, looking a little embarrassed, and Adrien realized how late it was. They’d stayed out late for patrol, and then it had been at least a couple of hours beyond even that – if he went to sleep right this minute, he would only get about four and a half hours of sleep before his alarm went off. 

Of course, he thought wryly, he wasn’t going to get much sleep with Ladybug in his room anyway, so it wasn’t like it mattered what time he went to sleep.

Nevertheless, Ladybug looked like she needed some sleep. Her mask hid the upper part of her face, but Adrien knew what the lines at the corners of her eyes meant. She was tired and fading fast. 

“You ready for bed?” he asked.

“Sorry, I’m keeping you from sleeping,” Ladybug said, only seeming to realize the time then too. 

“It’s okay,” Adrien said, climbing off his bed. He went to the closet and took out a spare pillow, then hesitated. No one had ever slept over at his house before, so he wasn’t really sure of the etiquette surrounding houseguests. He had spent the night at Chloé’s when they were both children, but Chloé’s bed had been more than big enough to accommodate both of them. 

Thought of sharing a bed with Ladybug made his face flame. He ducked his head and coughed, fighting to get himself under control. Obviously, they couldn’t share. But that meant it would only be right to offer Ladybug the bed, right? That’s what the people in the movies always did.

“Don’t even think about it. I’m fine on the couch,” Ladybug said, and Adrien glanced over at her.

“But you’re a guest!” he argued weakly.

“I’m not a guest. I’m imposing,” she said, getting up. She walked over and took the pillow from him. “Adrien, seriously. I am not going to chase you out of your bed for the night. It’s fine. The couch looks really comfortable.”

“Are you sure?” Adrien said, wishing he knew more about this kind of thing. Ladybug looked certain, but he felt like he was breaking a big social taboo. But he also didn’t want to annoy her by trying to pressure her into taking the bed; she hated it when people acted like she didn’t know her own mind.

“I’m positive,” she said firmly.

“Okay,” Adrien said, giving in. At least he knew for a fact that the couch really was comfortable. Sometimes, if he couldn’t sleep, he’d lay on the couch and turn on the television. Late night television was boring as hell and perfect for helping you to drift off.

“Okay,” Ladybug repeated, moving over to the couch. She had folded and draped Adrien’s mother’s quilt over the back of it. Now, she set the pillow down and then laid down, arranging the quilt over her.

Adrien looked at her for a moment.

Then he said, “You know, once I shut the lights off, I promise to keep my eyes shut until you tell me otherwise.”

“You promise?” Ladybug said in a small voice, not looking at him; she was laying flat on her back, staring up at the ceiling, and he knew how uncomfortable she had to be in her suit. That, plus the fact that Tikki also needed to sleep, meant it was unrealistic to think she’d last all night in her suit anyway. Chances were her transformation would wear off in the next couple of hours.

“Yeah,” Adrien said as gently as he could, walking over to the light switch. The room was shortly plunged into darkness but for the moonlight seeping in around his curtains. That, plus his slightly enhanced vision, meant he was able to make it back to his bed without doing anything too embarrassing. 

He slipped off his jeans and quickly got into bed, closing his eyes. There was a pause during which it felt like both he and Ladybug were holding their breath – 

“Spots off,” Ladybug whispered.

A red glow flashed against Adrien’s eyelids. He heard the sound of Ladybug and Tikki whispering to each other a few seconds later. A lump rose in his throat; he could open his eyes right now and look and _know_. But he wouldn’t. The gift of her trust meant more than anything no matter how badly he wanted to know who she was, but he pulled the covers up over his head just in case.


	8. Slow Dance

When his alarm went off the next morning, much too soon, Adrien kept his promise and stayed where he was with his eyes closed. There was some rustling out in the room, like Ladybug had rolled over or sat up, and then Ladybug muttered something. That same flash of red light washed over Adrien.

“Okay, I’m decent,” Ladybug said.

Adrien opened his eyes to look at her, smiling at her reddened cheeks – clearly, she’d only thought about how that might sound after she spoke. 

“Did you sleep okay?” he asked, even though he thought he already knew the answer. He had tossed and turned all night, and he was pretty sure that Ladybug’d had similar problems. 

“It was fine,” Ladybug said, which was her polite way of saying she’d also slept like shit.

“I, uh, have to go to school now,” Adrien said slowly.

“Oh,” Ladybug said, and that was all she said.

Adrien cleared his throat. “Are you going to school?”

“How do you know I’m in school?” she asked.

“I guess I don’t,” he lied. “You just seemed like you were around the same age as me, that’s all. Maybe I’m wrong and you’re secretly a 90-year-old woman under that suit…” He squinted at her exaggeratedly. 

Her lips twitched, but she didn’t smile. “You’re right. I am in school, but I’m not going today. I’m taking a sick day.” There was something sad about her face right then.

It wasn’t like Ladybug to skip school. Adrien debated on whether or not he should say something but decided against it after taking another look at her expression. Chat Noir had pressed Ladybug a little too hard when her face looked like that, and she’d pushed him off a building in retaliation. Her revenge against Adrien probably wouldn’t be quite as bad, but they also weren’t friends.

Then again, sometimes he wasn’t even sure if Ladybug and Chat Noir were friends.

“Okay,” he said at last. “Well, you can stay here if you want to. No one should be in my room since the maids did their scheduled clean-up yesterday.”

“I might go out for a bit,” Ladybug said. “But thanks.”

He nodded and went into the bathroom to shower and dress. He agonized the whole time over what he should say to her. He was _worried_ , that was the problem: Ladybug wasn’t acting like herself. Yet Adrien Agreste wasn’t supposed to be familiar with her enough to know that. If Ladybug had been in right mind, she probably would have picked up on the fact that he was a little _too_ concerned.

Maybe things would work themselves out, Adrien thought as he did his hair. Maybe Ladybug had figured out a solution last night and tonight she would go home where she belonged.

Yet he didn’t think so.

Nothing about Ladybug’s countenance this morning suggested that she magically solved her problems overnight.

“Maybe you should offer her some cheese,” said Plagg.

Adrien looked at his kwami in the mirror. “Cheese?”

“Cheese solves everything.”

“I’m afraid it’s not that easy,” Adrien said, shaking his head. If only… he would buy Ladybug all the cheese in the world if it was.

And then there was Marinette. Adrien’s smile faded as he thought about his petite friend and how upset she had been – and rightfully so. He couldn’t believe Lila had accused Marinette of pushing her down the steps, and then gotten Marinette expelled in the process. It wasn’t right! Marinette was innocent. He would never believe anything else. He just didn’t know how he was supposed to convince anyone else of that when no one wanted to listen to him.

He sighed and dabbed a bit more cover-up beneath his eyes to cover up the ever-darkening circles, then opened up the bathroom door. The television was on, showing some couple in the middle of a slow dance, but Ladybug wasn’t paying attention to it. She was drumming her fingers on her knee, leg bouncing restlessly.

He wondered where she planned to go today. Home?

“Will you be back tonight?” he asked before he could stop himself.

Ladybug looked over at him, eyes wide.

The silence stretched.

Uncomfortable, thinking he’d mis-stepped, Adrien said hurriedly, “It’s just – you can come back if you want to. I meant it when I said that you’re always welcome here.”

“I couldn’t impose again,” she said quietly.

“I don’t mind. The company was nice,” Adrien said, and that was a bit _too_ honest. Flustered, he grabbed his backpack and scurried towards the door.

“Adrien, thank you,” Ladybug said right before he left.

Adrien swallowed hard, ducked his head in acknowledgement, and left before he could say anything else stupid.


	9. Lady Noire

“Hey Dude,” Nino said as Adrien entered the classroom.

“Morning,” Adrien said. He couldn’t help glancing at Marinette’s desk as he took his seat. It was empty, which wasn’t unusual since Marinette was always running late – but knowing she wouldn’t be there at all, and that it was Lila’s fault, made anger bubble in his stomach.

Nino followed his gaze. “Alya’s really worried about Marinette. She texted me this morning to say that she talked to Marinette for a few minutes yesterday afternoon, but that Marinette wasn’t answering any texts last night or this morning.”

“Maybe Marinette just needed some time to herself. Or maybe her parents took her phone away,” said Adrien. Gabriel had done that to him before, and he knew that Marinette’s parents had been really upset over what happened. So was Marinette, for that matter, and Adrien knew that things between Marinette and Alya were a little shaky when it came to Lila. He wouldn’t say as much, but maybe Marinette had been deliberately avoiding Alya.

“Maybe,” Nino said. “We were thinking about going over there after school to check on her.”

“Do you think her parents would let us see her?” Adrien asked. His father wouldn’t have, but that didn’t mean much: his father didn’t let his friends see him on a normal day, never mind when he was in trouble. He didn’t know Sabine Cheng and Tom Dupain well enough to know whether they would be reasonable about something like that.

“I’m not sure. But it’s worth a shot,” Nino said, shrugging, and Adrien couldn’t argue with that logic.

“I’ll have to check my schedule. I think I have fencing practice after school. But I could run over quickly with you and then come back for practice,” Adrien said. When he had fencing or basketball practice after school, the Gorilla didn’t usually show up until after practice was over. So no one would be the wiser if Adrien slipped out, and he was sure that Monsieur D'Argencourt wouldn’t be too mad if Adrien was a couple of minutes late.

“Cool,” Nino said cheerfully. 

“Cool,” Adrien echoed, pulling his bag into his lap. He felt bad now. He’d thought about texting Marinette last night but hadn’t been sure he would want to hear from him after he’d been totally useless in the locker room. Then he’d gone out on patrol and gotten totally distracted by Ladybug. 

Alya came in a couple of minutes later, looking as tired as Adrien felt. She took her seat behind them and both Nino and Adrien turned to face her. 

“Still no answer,” Alya said, not even bothering with a greeting. 

“Don’t worry, Babe. Marinette will come around,” Nino said comfortingly.

Alya managed a small smile. “Thanks. I spent most of last night doing this, hoping it would cheer her up.” She took out her phone and showed them that she’d changed the banner on the Ladyblog to include both Ladybug and Lady Noire; somehow, she’d created a photo to show the two superheroes standing back-to-back, staring out at the world with identical confident smiles.

“That’s really cool!” Adrien said, mesmerized, as Nino whistled his appreciation. Adrien immediately vowed to make that his new phone background.

“Thanks. Marinette loves Lady Noire, so I thought it might help.” Alya heaved a huge sigh. “And… I hoped it would help her forgive me. I think I might have said the wrong thing yesterday.”

“What did you say?” Adrien asked, looking at Alya as Alya locked her phone and put it away.

Alya sighed. “I outlined the evidence against her. I was trying to be helpful, but I think Marinette took it to mean that I didn’t believe her. And I do, I really do, I just –”

“You don’t think it was Lila,” Adrien said flatly.

“I think that _obviously_ someone framed Marinette, but I don’t think it’s right to jump to the conclusion that it was Lila,” Alya said delicately. “Marinette hasn’t liked Lila since day one because Lila hangs around you.”

Adrien frowned. “Why would that bother Marinette?”

Alya’s eyes widened. “Um…”

He looked between her and Nino, further confused by the panicked looks they exchanged. 

“It’s just… um… you see…” Alya said.

“Err… that is…” Nino said.

Adrien raised his eyebrows and waited.


	10. Shower

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have to be honest and say I don't fully understanding Alya's reasoning either. I'm basing her reaction in this fic on how she reacted in canon, which is that Alya openly said to Marinette that there could be another "baddie" behind what happened. Lila was literally at the center of it all, but sure Alya I guess there could be a ghost hanging around who temporarily possessed Lila and made things happen.

When the silence dragged on for a good, increasingly awkward thirty seconds, Adrien realized that neither Alya nor Nino were going to explain. And then he realized that maybe they _couldn’t_ explain.

Because the only explanation Adrien could think of was that Marinette had noticed how uncomfortable Lila’s advances made him, and her dislike towards Lila stemmed at least partially from that. He hated to think that he might have been the initial cause of their feud, but he wasn’t sure why else Lila would have targeted Marinette. It made sense that it was because Marinette was a great friend and Lila couldn’t handle that.

But no one else, Alya and Nino included, seemed to have realized how much Adrien hated it when Lila pushed into his space. So maybe they didn’t know that was part of it? And Alya, at least, still liked Lila, so neither she nor Nino were willing to admit that Lila wasn’t very nice to Marinette on a good day. 

He could argue that with them. There was plenty of evidence to prove that Lila was horrible, even if it was all circumstantial. But he wasn’t sure they’d believe him. Maybe, he thought, that was a conversation best held between him, Marinette, Alya and Nino later on. They might be more willing to believe if both he _and_ Marinette were saying the same things.

“Never mind,” he said, but he couldn’t just let it go without saying _something_. “But Alya, I believe Marinette too. I think it was Lila.”

Again, Nino and Alya exchanged looks.

“What?” Adrien said, frustrated now.

“It’s just – well – it also could’ve been Chloé,” Alya said, still in that careful tone. “I know she’s your friend, but Chloé bullied Marinette for years.”

Nino nodded. “This is totally the kind of stunt Chloé would’ve pulled. Heck, she once accused Marinette of stealing her bracelet!”

“And she got me suspended for no reason,” Alya added.

Adrien frowned at the two of them. “In both of those cases, Chloé was the one making a big deal about it. She didn’t say anything this time,” he pointed out.

“Maybe Chloé somehow suckered Lila into doing her dirty work,” Nino said.

“Yeah, no. That wouldn’t happen,” Adrien said, shaking his head. Chloé hated Lila almost as much as Marinette did. Adrien had already had to listen to a few of Chloé’s rants about how much attention Sabrina had been showering on Lila lately. And also, he didn’t think Lila would ever do anything for Chloé no matter what Chloé did.

“You’re Chloé’s friend, of course you would say that,” Alya said. She probably didn’t mean to sound as patronizing as she did, but Adrien couldn’t help scowling in response.

“It was Lila,” he said shortly, but he was realizing that Alya and Nino weren’t going to be helpful. No, he was going to have to figure something else out.

Madame Bustier came in then, and Adrien and Nino turned back around as class began. But they weren’t more than fifteen minutes into the lesson when he noticed something outside the window.

It was Ladybug.

Adrien stared at her for a moment in surprise. 

She was sitting on the rooftop across from the school, knees pulled up against her chest, arms wrapped around her legs, chin on her knees. Even from a distance she looked small and sad, and he wondered how long she had been there for. And why? Had she come here because this was where he went to school?

Or because this was where _Ladybug_ went to school?

His heart thudded against his chest at the idea. It did make a weird kind of sense. Whenever an akuma appeared around Collège Françoise Dupont, Ladybug was as quick to arrive as Chat Noir was. Now that he thought about it, she also seemed to be familiar with some of the students that went here.

If he could figure out who was absent from school today because they were sick…

But no.

He wasn’t supposed to be trying to figure out Ladybug’s identity. She would be furious if she knew.

He turned his attention back to Madame Bustier, but he only lasted a few seconds before he had to sneak another look at her. He was disappointed when he realized that Ladybug was gone. He stared at the spot where she had been. Perhaps her presence had been a figment of his imagination, but he didn’t think so. 

“Dude, pay attention!” Nino hissed, poking Adrien in the arm.

“Oh! Uh, right,” Adrien said, looking away from the window just in time for Madame Bustier to turn around from the board. Today was about Marinette; he could worry about Ladybug tonight.


	11. Photo stash

Once school was over, Adrien packed up his bag before joining Alya and Nino. They walked over to the Dupain-Cheng bakery together. Adrien couldn't help taking a deep breath as they entered; the bakery smelled heavenly, like chocolate and vanilla and bread. His stomach growled hungrily. The salad he'd had for lunch, per his nutritionist’s orders, was a distant memory. Suddenly all he could think about was a warm croissant or a choux à la crème. He licked his lips unconsciously as he stepped over to the side Alya and Nino to wait for Sabine Cheng.

It took a couple of minutes for the other customers to clear out, and then Sabine looked up at them with a weary smile and said, "Hi, kids. Are you here on Marinette's behalf?"

"Kind of?" Alya said.

"Well, tell her that her papa and I aren't mad at her for sneaking out this morning, but that the longer she stays gone the higher the chance that we're going to get mad. Helping out in the bakery isn't the end of the world," said Sabine, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear. She unknowingly left a streak of what appeared to be caramel on her cheek in the process. 

This time, Adrien was included in the exchange of looks. Alya and Nino looked blankly at him and he looked back, equally baffled.

"Umm... what do you mean, Marinette snuck out?" Alya said finally.

Sabine seemed surprised by the question. "She wasn't there this morning when I went to wake her up. I assumed that's why you were here, to pass on a message from her..." She surveyed their faces and sighed. "You mean she hasn't contacted you?"

"I haven't heard from her," said Adrien.

"Me either," Alya said, and Nino nodded his agreement.

"Ah, that stubborn girl," Sabine muttered. "She must have gone off somewhere on her own today."

"I've been texting her all day. She hasn't answered," said Alya. "Do you think something happened? She almost got akumatized yesterday..."

The thought of Marinette being akumatized made Adrien's chest get hot and tight.

But Nino was shaking his head. "Ladybug and Chat Noir haven't been seen out today," he reminded Alya, which wasn’t technically true but Adrien remained quiet as Nino continued. "And there haven't been any reports of an akuma on your blog. Plus, Lila was at class today and no akumas came by. So that's pretty unlikely."

"Nino's right. I think it's more likely that Marinette went off to sketch somewhere and lost track of time. She does that sometimes," Sabine said. "She may also be taking her time coming home because her papa and I made it clear that we were disappointed in her."

"It wasn't Marinette's fault! She didn't do anything," Adrien said sharply.

"Oh, of course. We believe her," Sabine said quickly. "I just wish - well, never mind." She shook her head. "Would you kids mind running upstairs and making sure Marinette isn't up there? It's been awfully busy all day. She could've slipped by me without me knowing."

"I'll go," Alya said quickly. "You two stay here." 

"What? Why?" Nino said.

Alya shot him a look and hissed something in his ear. Adrien caught the words "photo stash" and "walls" but nothing else; whatever Alya said apparently made sense to Nino, because Nino gulped and nodded.

"You're right. We should stay here and have a pastry," he said, digging his wallet out.

"Now Nino, you know your money is no good here," Sabine said. "I'll get you boys something good. Just wait here." She vanished behind the curtain.

"Do you really think Marinette is okay?" Adrien asked Nino.

Nino shrugged. "Her mom doesn't seem too worried. I'm sure she's fine. She does get pretty wrapped up in sketching sometimes."

"Hmm," Adrien said, unconvinced. It didn't _sound_ right - but then, who was he to argue? Marinette was his friend, but they weren't nearly as close as Marinette and Alya were or even Marinette and Nino were, as they had known each other since they were kids. If Marinette's parents and closest friends weren't concerned, then maybe he shouldn't be either.

Alya came downstairs a moment later, shaking her head. "She's not up here. I took a quick peek around, but I don't see anything that indicates where she might have been gone."

"I bet she'll text you back soon," Nino said, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. Alya smiled and leaned into him.

Sabine came back out and sent them all off with freshly baked apple tarts and a promise to have Marinette text them all when she returned. Adrien ate his tart as he walked back across the street towards the school. Everyone else seemed reassured, but he couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong.


	12. Post reveal

Needless to say, fencing practice was a bit of a disaster. Adrien struggled to keep his mind on what he was doing and off of Marinette. He was tired and sore as he went out to the car, and he ended up staring silently out the window as the Gorilla drove back to the mansion. It wasn't fair that Marinette was having to deal with this on her own, and he wanted to help her - but how could he? Lila had proven that she was clever, too clever to be caught by accident...

He checked his phone just in case Marinette had texted. She hadn't.

Nathalie met him at the door. "Your Chinese lesson has been canceled tonight. You should work on your own for an hour and a half and then practice piano for an hour before supper," she said.

"Sure," Adrien said, having zero intention of doing either one of those things. He trudged past her and up the stairs, thinking longingly of a shower and a nap.

But both those thoughts fled his mind when he opened his bedroom door and saw a flash of dark pigtails accompanied by a squeak. A very _familiar_ squeak.

Marinette?

"A-Adrien! I wasn't expecting you back so early!"'

No, of course not. It was Ladybug. Adrien relaxed, a smile crossing his face as he stepped fully into the room and shut the door behind him. He could just see the edge of her boot poking out from behind the closet, so he knew that she was transformed. 

He took a second - just a second - to imagine what it would be like if they knew each other's identities. If he could come home and know that Ladybug was waiting here for him because she _wanted_ to be and not because she didn't want to go home and had no where else to go. What would it be like, post-reveal? To be able to visit _her_ home? To have a frank, open conversation with her? To know that Ladybug saw Adrien as her partner, not just as a helpful civilian?

"Adrien?" she said, poking her head up. Seeing that he was alone, she straightened up.

Adrien shook himself out of it. "Sorry. I didn't mean to scare you."

"It's okay. It's your bedroom. I just thought you had Chinese lessons," Ladybug said.

He cocked his head. "I did, but they got canceled. How did you know I had a Chinese lesson?"

Ladybug's eyes got very wide and she sputtered. "U-um! Th-that is! I-I heard Nathalie mention them!"

"Oh," Adrien said, confused. If Ladybug had heard Nathalie talking about the Chinese lesson, she would've known it was canceled, right? 

"Anyway, I hope you don't mind that I'm here," she said shyly, looking away.

"Of course not," he said instantly. "In fact, it's kind of nice that you're here. Nice not to come home to an empty room." Nice to come home to a smiling face, he didn't say. The only time Gabriel ever came out to greet him was when Adrien had done something wrong. And more and more, Nathalie acted like their conversations were business interactions.

Her face softened. "I'm glad I was here, then."

"Did you go anywhere today?" Adrien asked, trying hard to sound casual as he walked over and set his bag down. He was curious to see what she'd say.

"I went out for a bit," she said vaguely. "But I didn't do much. Pretty hard to do anything when you're Ladybug. I attract a lot of attention."

"You could've detransformed," he said, glancing at her. The look on her face just then - he couldn't have described it, but something was definitely wrong.

"No. I'd attract a different kind of attention if I did that," she said, quieter now. Sadder.

"Then why don't we go get some food?" he blurted out.

"What?" Ladybug said.

"I haven't eaten much today. I'm guessing you haven't either. If you'll give me a lift, I can go get us some food. We could eat on a rooftop," Adrien said. It was no different from what she and Chat Noir did once in a while. Maybe he’d be able to find out a few more details about what was bothering her.

Ladybug smiled. “That sounds really nice, actually,” she said, her cheeks pink.

“Great,” Adrien said. “Let me just shower first, okay?”

“Sure. Take your time.”

He grabbed a change of clothes and headed into the bathroom, trying not to freak out. Because he was wrong. This was _way_ different from what he did with Ladybug as Chat Noir. Was this – was this a _date_?


	13. Hand holding

He just needed to be cool.

Adrien repeated that to himself over and over again as Ladybug slipped an arm around his waist. He was pretty sure that it wasn't his imagination that there was a faint blush on her cheeks as she stepped closer and wound up her yoyo, then threw it. His own face felt hot as their feet left his bedroom floor and they were unceremoniously yanked out the window, over the fence, and across the rooftops of Paris. 

"Where do you want to go?" Ladybug called out over the wind.

"Anywhere," Adrien said dreamily, completely caught up in the feel of her body against his.

"What?"

"U-um... how about _Rouge_?" he said louder, knowing without looking that she would be smiling. 

It was, perhaps, a risky move: that was the café that Ladybug and Chat Noir frequented often during their patrols. They made excellent coffees and teas and had the second-best pastries in Paris, and they stayed open all night so were an excellent choice for two superheroes out after midnight. Plus, the owners staunchly refused to accept any money from either Ladybug or Chat Noir, which was fortunate because money wasn't exactly easy to carry when they were transformed.

And he didn't know about Ladybug, but Adrien Agreste would attract way too much attention buying coffee and pastries after midnight.

"Sounds good to me," Ladybug said. Her voice sounded a bit odd, but when he turned his head to look at her, she wasn't looking at him. Her nose was wrinkled up in concentration as she unwound her yoyo, pulled it back, and threw it again, all so smoothly that Adrien barely felt the drop before they were rising up again.

Within ten minutes, they were touching down around the corner from the café. Adrien regretfully put space between them and said, "I'll be right back."

He darted away before she could offer to pay, hurrying into the café. What Ladybug didn't know was that he came here sometimes and left a sizeable tip after ordering, hoping to repay the kindness of the owners in some way even if they didn't know that he was Chat Noir. He did the same thing today, placing their usual order and then dropping several bills into the jar when the baristas weren't paying attention. Then he collected his order and hurried back to Ladybug.

"Let's go up to the rooftop," she said, putting an arm around him again. "Do you mind?"

"Not at all," Adrien said honestly. This was even better than hand holding, especially because her grip was even tighter than before since his hands were full of food and drink. He couldn't hold onto her, so she was doing the work for him and it was _glorious_. He tried to imprint the feeling of her arm holding him so securely, but somehow so _gently_ , so that he would never forget it.

Up on the rooftop, she let him go and they sat down on the roof. Adrien handed over her drink and then took a sip of his own, relishing the taste of coffee and chocolate so artfully mixed together. It was the sort of pick-me-up he needed after the day he'd had.

"What's wrong?" Ladybug asked, and he looked over at her in surprise.

"Isn't that my line?" he asked her.

She shrugged. "I asked first."

That was fair. Adrien sighed. "I'm just worried about a friend of mine. She got expelled yesterday."

"Expelled? That's awful," Ladybug whispered.

"Right? She was really upset... she almost got akumatized. And it wasn't even her fault. She was framed," Adrien said angrily. He hadn't intended to talk about Marinette tonight, but somehow the whole awful story poured out. He told Ladybug everything: about how pushy and demanding Lila was towards him, about how horrible Lila was to Marinette, and about how Lila seemed to have their whole class and all the adults wrapped around her little finger. 

Ladybug listened in silence, sipping at her tea, as though knowing that Adrien just needed an unbiased ear.

"But do you want to know the worst thing?" Adrien concluded, suddenly weary. "When Lila accused Marinette yesterday, I couldn't do anything about it. I just stood there and let Lila get away with it _again_. Now no one's heard from Marinette all day and I'm - I'm really worried about her."

"You are?" Ladybug said, looking up at him, and Adrien nodded.

"Of course I am. Marinette is one of my friends. I don't have many of those, so they're all really precious to me. And Marinette is… special. I just keep thinking that something is wrong." He swallowed hard, staring down at his cup. "And I really wish I knew how to help her."


	14. Good Luck Kiss

Ladybug was quiet for a long moment, letting the sound of the wind, their breathing, and Paris itself fill the space around them. Adrien appreciated the silence if he was being honest. It gave him time to get himself back under control; he hadn't realized how wound up he was getting. 

Finally, Ladybug said, "Maybe you should send Marinette a text. I bet she would appreciate knowing that someone is on her side."

"You think?" Adrien said, looking over at her. "I've been wrestling with myself about whether or not I should. I thought she might be mad at me."

Ladybug let out a half sigh, half laugh. "Oh, Adrien, I can promise you that Marinette is not mad at you."

He contemplated that for a moment before sighing. "Still. I just feel so useless. I wish there was something I could _do_."

"From what you've said, I'm not sure there's anything anyone can do. It sounds like not even Marinette's parents or best friend believe her," Ladybug said quietly. Her voice sounded weird. Adrien gave her a closer look, realizing that she was genuinely upset over this. She actually looked like she might cry for a split second, until she realized Adrien was looking at her and then her expression smoothed over.

Was this just Ladybug's natural empathy? Was something about this hitting close to why Ladybug had left home? Or -

"I'm sure that's upset Marinette a lot," Ladybug went on, clearing her throat. "So hearing that someone does believe her, and knows the truth, would probably make her feel better."

"Yeah..." Adrien said, taking a sip of his tea. He supposed that Ladybug had a point. If nothing else, sending Marinette a text would probably make him feel a little better. 

"This Lila girl sounds like a real train wreck though. Why don't you tell someone how much you hate it when she hangs off of you?" Ladybug said.

Adrien flushed, because he hadn't meant to tell Ladybug that part of it, and shrugged. "I mean... I'm kind of used to it? People touch me all the time for work and stuff like that. Besides, sometimes I think that Lila hates Marinette because of me. So if letting her hang off of me means she gives Marinette a break, it's worth it." He sighed again. "Or at least, it was before Lila went way too far."

"Adrien..." Ladybug was staring at him, her eyes wide.

"I hate how the whole class thinks Lila is an angel," Adrien admitted. "It drives me crazy. I was told Alya today that I believe Marinette and Alya said she thought it could be Chloé. Can you believe that? I know that Chloé is no angel, but she hates Lila as much as Marinette does. There is no way those two would work together. The problem is that Lila always does stuff when no one else is around. She's so good at that. If only there was -" He stopped abruptly as an idea formed.

"If only there was what?" Ladybug asked.

"Cameras," Adrien said slowly. "If only our school had cameras."

Ladybug looked a little panicked. "But - but it doesn't, right?!"

"What? No. But..." He finished off his tea. "If I could get Lila to talk about what she did, and I recorded it, then everyone would _have_ to believe Marinette."

"That's... do you really think you could get Lila to do that?" Ladybug reached over and grabbed Adrien's arm. Her grip was a little too tight, verging on painful, yet Adrien didn't ask her to let go. He was struck by the sudden intensity in her face.

"I don't know. Lila's pretty smart. But she also likes to brag, I think, and she wouldn't have been able to tell anyone about this, so... maybe? I would definitely give it my best shot," Adrien said.

"It could be dangerous," Ladybug whispered. She leaned in closer. "Adrien, she told everyone that Marinette pushed her down the stairs. She could do something to you too."

A brief fission of nerves ran through him, but Adrien determinedly shook it off. He stared into Ladybug's eyes. She was so close that he could see her freckles. He had always loved her freckles.

"I would do anything for Marinette," he said softly, thinking of the kind, passionate girl who turned herself inside out for her friends. A simple smile from her was enough to turn Adrien's whole day around. If he could help her, he was going to do it.

Ladybug seemed to shiver. Then, suddenly, she kissed his cheek.

Adrien froze.

"A good luck kiss," Ladybug said, blushing. Her eyes were bright, but she was smiling.


	15. Rival

She had kissed him. Ladybug had kissed him.

It felt familiar.

He touched his cheek, speechless.

“Marinette is lucky to have a friend like you,” Ladybug said softly, looking down at the roof. Her reaction was enough to make Adrien frown and snap out of his daze; now wasn’t the time for him to be flipping out about Ladybug kissing his cheek. It was his turn to put a hand on her arm, drawing her attention back to him.

“I’m your friend too,” he told her. “I’d do anything for you too.” He only just managed to bite back the “My Lady” that wanted to follow.

Her face softened. “Somehow… that doesn’t surprise me.”

“Can I help you?” Adrien asked, and for a moment he thought that she was going to say yes.

But in the end, Ladybug shook her head. “No. This is a problem between me and – and my rival.”

“Your rival,” Adrien repeated. It was more information than he’d had before, since Ladybug had previously only referred to another girl who was causing her trouble, yet it still felt like perilously little to go off of. 

“I’d like to tell you, Adrien. I really would. But I can’t,” Ladybug said regretfully, and he didn’t need to ask why. It would’ve meant compromising her identity, or at least Ladybug thought that it would. 

“What about Chat Noir?” he asked impulsively. “Surely he could help.”

Ladybug paused, looking at him oddly, then smiled and shook her head. “I’m afraid I can’t tell him for the same reason that I can’t tell you. Even though I wish I could.”

“You do?”

“Oh yes. Chat is silly and frustrating sometimes, but he’s also my best friend. I know I can always count on him; he’s the only person who has _always_ been there for me.” Ladybug looked away, out across the rooftops, as though her words alone might magically conjure up her partner. “I know that if I told him what was going on, he would support me no matter what… but our safety is more important.”

“Right,” Adrien said. He disagreed. He disagreed so vehemently that it took every ounce of willpower he possessed to not grab her by the shoulders and tell her exactly who he was. 

But he didn’t. 

Regardless of how he felt, and how many arguments he had to the counter, he knew he had to respect Ladybug’s wishes. Pushing her would only make her shut down. They had been down that route before way back when they first began working together, and Chat had not enjoyed the three days of silent treatment that had followed. 

“Who knows, maybe my situation will resolve itself,” Ladybug added. 

“Maybe,” Adrien said, though he didn’t believe that, and he didn’t think Ladybug did either. He looked up at the sky overhead, wishing that he could somehow solve both Ladybug’s and Marinette’s problems, and so didn’t even realize when Ladybug moved.

Not until her head landed on his shoulder.

“Besides, you are helping,” Ladybug said quietly, curling up beside him.

“I… I am?” Adrien stuttered, his heart pounding. First her arm around his waist, then a kiss, now this. He held his breath as Ladybug wrapped her arms around his right arm, hugging his arm to her chest.

“Yeah. You gave me a place to stay,” Ladybug said. “That’s way more than most people would’ve done.”

Adrien wasn’t so sure about that – Ladybug was Paris’s most beloved superhero, after all – but he wasn’t about to argue with her. He turned his head slightly, looking down at the top of her head. Her perfume, or maybe her shampoo, smelled of vanilla. It was intoxicating. 

“And you’re working so hard to help out your friend,” she continued. “It makes me feel better knowing that there are people like you around. Sometimes being a superhero is hard. You start to wonder whether it’s all worth it. People like you make it worth it, Adrien.”

He bit his lip, overwhelmed.

As Chat Noir, he knew _exactly_ what she meant about wondering whether it was all worth it.

So as Adrien? Hearing her say that meant more than anything.

“Thank you,” he whispered finally. “Ladybug, I…”

“Just say that I can sleep on your couch again tonight,” she murmured.

“Definitely,” Adrien said. That went without saying, though he supposed it answered the question of whether she planned to go home tonight. He couldn’t help wondering if there were people out there missing her. Were her parents worried? Her friends? That niggling thought was just enough to spoil what was an otherwise perfect moment.

Somehow, without going against her wishes, he had to help Ladybug too. He had to get her back home where she belonged.


	16. Save me

They stayed on the rooftop for a while, until the sun had gone down and Adrien knew that he had missed supper. Ladybug had cuddled even closer to him, and he wasn’t dumb enough to think that it was because she wanted to – a side effect of her miraculous was that she got cold easily. The temperature was falling rapidly now that the sun had set. When even he started to shiver, he knew it was time to leave.

“We should go,” he said reluctantly.

“Oh – right.” Ladybug pulled away immediately, and he instantly regretted opening his mouth. He held in a sigh as he collected their empty drink containers and the bag the pastries had been. 

“Can I get a ride?” he asked with a playful smile, tilting his head towards the edge of the roof, and Ladybug smiled back.

“Of course. But Adrien…”

“Yeah?” 

“How did you know what drink I like?”

Her question hit like a slap to the face. Adrien swore he could hear the sound of Plagg facepalming.

“Uh – I – I guessed,” he stammered, not meeting her eyes. Shit. _Shit_. How could he have been so stupid? He hadn’t even thought to ask about Ladybug’s order because she always got the same thing. She didn’t like having a lot of caffeine at night, so she always went for either a raspberry or chamomile tea, depending on the weather. He’d ordered her a chamomile tea tonight based on her mood.

But that was information that _Adrien_ shouldn’t have known.

“I see,” Ladybug said, walking away. She stopped right at the edge of the roof, her back to him. “That was a good guess. You got my tea just the way I like it.”

What did that mean? Had he blown his cover? Adrien stared at the back of her head, panicking. It didn’t sound like she had bought his admittedly lame excuse, but what else could he say?

“Oh my gosh, look! It’s Ladybug! Ladybug! Save me!”

Adrien had never been so glad to hear someone screaming in his life.

“Oops, duty calls. Come on,” Ladybug said, turning to him. Her expression, however it had looked before, was all business now, and he moved over to her quickly. She wrapped an arm around his waist and launched them off the roof, setting him down quickly before taking to the air again.

“For a black cat, you are so damned lucky,” Plagg said, poking his head out of Adrien’s shirt.

“Right?” Adrien said, exhaling slowly. That had been close. Too close.

Plagg seemed to be thinking the same thing, because he flew out of Adrien’s pocket and crossed his arms. “Kid, if you’re gonna hang around with Ladybug as civilian-you, then civilian-you _really_ needs to be more careful. You have another slip up like that and she’s gonna have you pegged.”

“I know, I know.” Adrien sighed and tossed the trash in the dumpster, frustrated with himself. He had always thought there was a barrier between Ladybug and Chat Noir, but now he was realizing that he knew Ladybug better than he thought. And that wasn’t a good thing.

It was much harder than he’d expected to pretend like he didn’t know her.

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Plagg said. His face was unusually serious.

“What else am I supposed to do, Plagg? I can’t turn Ladybug away,” Adrien said.

“I know,” Plagg muttered. “I wouldn’t ask you to do that. It’s just –” He sighed loudly. “This could go down a road that I’m not sure you or Ladybug are ready for.”

Knowing that Plagg meant his identity might be revealed, Adrien shook his head. “I’ll be more careful from now on. Besides, maybe Ladybug will work things out and be able to go back home. As much as I would like her to, she can’t stay with me forever.”

“You say that now,” Plagg said under his breath.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing, nothing.”

Adrien squinted at his kwami suspiciously. “Plagg.”

“Adrien,” Plagg said mockingly, and Adrien rolled his eyes. 

“It’s fine. I’ll be more careful, and Ladybug won’t figure out who I am,” Adrien said confidently.

“It’s not Ladybug I’m worried about,” said Plagg, but before Adrien could ask again what he meant, a tell-tale shadow passed overhead. Plagg eeped and dove for cover as Ladybug landed.

“Sorry! There was some teenagers messing around,” she said breathlessly. 

“No problem,” Adrien said, giving her a smile. He loved that she cared enough to respond to calls like that, even though technically all she and Chat Noir had to worry about was akumas.

“Ready to go?” she asked, holding a hand out to him, and Adrien’s heart fluttered as he took it. He didn’t care what Plagg said: moments like this were worth the risk.


	17. Adrien knows

Ladybug was still asleep when Adrien crawled out of bed the next morning; all he could see was a few strands of dark hair peeping out from beneath the blanket she had thankfully pulled over her head and a familiar red kwami curled up on the edge of the couch. Tikki looked up, blinked, and yawned. Adrien winked at her and walked silently into the bathroom, getting ready for school as quickly and quietly as he could.

He waved goodbye to Tikki as he left, gently shutting the bedroom door behind him. He'd told Nathalie that he had fallen asleep last night and that's why he had skipped dinner, so he made sure to show enthusiasm for the meagre breakfast that was put down in front of him. 

He ate under Nathalie's watchful eye, listened to his schedule for the day - basketball practice after school, followed by an extra long Chinese lesson to make up for yesterday, then dinner, followed by piano practice and then time for homework - before finally escaping out the door.

He played around with his phone as the Gorilla drove him to school, experimenting with the camera. It was probably too much to hope that Lila wouldn't notice that they were being recorded if Adrien held the phone. Lila was many things, but stupid wasn't one of them. But he thought he might be able to twist Plagg's paw into helping. He had some cash hidden away, enough to buy a dozen wheels of high-quality Camembert. Surely that would be enough to get Plagg to say yes?

When the car pulled up at school, Adrien climbed out. He was not expecting Alya to literally throw herself on him. Adrien stumbled back against the car with a surprised grunt.

"Alya, what the - ?!"

"Marinette is missing!" Alya wailed into his shoulder. "Please tell me you've heard from her!"

"Marinette is what?!" Adrien said, aghast. He pushed himself up and glanced over his shoulder to see the Gorilla watching them both closely, no doubt ready to intervene if Adrien showed the slightest sign of discomfort. He gave the Gorilla a nod and was relieved when the car started up and promptly left.

"She's missing," Alya cried. "She didn't come home last night! Have you heard anything from her?" She jerked backwards, her eyes searching Adrien's face with a desperation that made his heart ache. 

"I - no," Adrien said, shocked and confused. "I texted her last night to see how she was, but she didn't answer me." In fact, he had fallen asleep staring at his phone in the hopes that Marinette might respond. This morning, his phone had been safely on his nightstand. He assumed that Ladybug had moved it to keep him from accidentally shoving his phone off his bed in his sleep.

Alya's face fell, her lip quivering. "She didn't even answer _you_ ," she said, utterly despondent.

Adrien wasn't sure what she meant by that, and he sensed that Alya was too distraught to explain. Instead, he said, "How do you know she didn't come home?"

"Her maman called me this morning. Her parents are here right now, talking to the school," Alya said, finally pulling away. She wiped at her face. "I've already talked to everyone else. You were my last hope. I thought to myself, Adrien knows Marinette. Adrien knows how she was feeling after what happened. Surely he'd have texted her, and she would have texted _him_ back. Surely..." Her eyes filled with tears and she let out a sob.

"Hey," Adrien said hurriedly, swallowing. "I'm sure she's fine, Alya."

"You don't know that!" Alya wailed. "Adrien, I'm not kidding. I've talked to literally everyone that Marinette knows. The only other person I couldn't get a hold of was Chat Noir."

"Marinette knows Chat Noir?" Adrien said. Of course, he knew that Chat Noir and Marinette had crossed paths a few times, but he hadn't realized Marinette had said as much to Alya.

Alya sniffed miserably and ran her fingers under her glasses again, leaving streaks of mascara behind as she said, "She mentions him every once in a while. I think they hang out and chat."

"Right," he said slowly. 

"I need to find him," Alya said. "Maybe he knows where Marinette is."

"He probably doesn't unless Marinette got akumatized," Adrien said. A hard knot formed in his stomach as he spoke. What if Marinette _had_ been akumatized, but no one realized it because she was a quiet akuma waiting for something...

He needed to talk to Ladybug.


	18. Gifts

Seeing Tom and Sabine walk out of the school was harder than Adrien had expected it to be. Sabine had her hands over her face, but it was obvious that she was crying. Tom had his arms wrapped around his wife and was visibly holding back tears. All of the students gave them a wide berth but watched with open curiosity as the two parents approached the gate to leave.

“Do you think I should go talk to them?” Alya whispered.

“Umm… I don’t know,” Adrien said. “Maybe?”

Alya sighed. “I probably should.” She squared her shoulders and walked over. Adrien watched from a safe distance. Whatever Alya said to them, it was enough to make Tom put a hand on her shoulder and squeeze. They didn’t speak for long; Tom led his wife away in the direction of the bakery and Alya returned to Adrien.

“Are they okay?” Adrien asked, already knowing the answer was no but feeling like he needed to ask.

“No. I don’t think they’ll be okay until they know for sure where Marinette is,” Alya said. “Oh, hey, there’s Nino. I’ll be right back.”

Adrien watched her go, hiked his backpack higher on his shoulder, and then, when Alya started crying again and threw herself into Nino’s arms, headed through the gates and into the school. The classroom was subdued when he got there. Word of Marinette’s disappearance had clearly spread. Rose was crying too. Juleka was trying to comfort her. Everyone else was just sitting quietly, even Chloé – to Adrien’s experienced eye, Chloé just looked stunned.

Everyone except Lila.

Anger burned through the shock when Adrien saw the smirk on Lila’s face. She wasn’t even trying to hide it, and it was infuriating. This was all because of her. Marinette was gone because of _her_. He clenched one hand into a fist. The fact that she could sit there like she’d had no part in it – 

“Okay, everyone, please take your seats,” Madame Bustier said, entering the room with Alya and Nino in tow.

Adrien turned away from Lila and said to Alya, “Why don’t you sit beside Nino today? I’ll take your seat.”

“Thanks, Adrien,” Alya said with a small smile.

It was weird to take a seat in the second row and know that Marinette should have been beside him, but wasn’t. Adrien set his bag on the desk and looked at her seat, thinking of that brief moment when he and Marinette had shared a seat in the back row. He hadn’t minded that. In fact, he’d been disappointed when Madame Bustier put the class back in their original seats. As nice as it was to sit beside Nino, sitting beside Marinette had been like a gift.

Maybe if they were still sitting together, Marinette would still be here…

“Now class, I’m sure you’ve all heard by now that Marinette is missing,” Madame Bustier said, looking around. “If anyone has heard from her, please let me or Principle Damocles know immediately. Marinette isn’t in trouble, but her parents are very concerned.”

“I’m sure she’s fine,” Alix spoke up.

Madame Bustier sighed. “I’m sure she is too, but the sooner she’s back at home, the better.”

“She probably just ran off because she was embarrassed that she got caught,” Lila said. “I bet she did it on purpose to get out of trou-”

“Would you shut up!” Alya exploded, turning to glare at Lila. “What part of Marinette is _missing_ do you not understand?! Something could have _happened_ to her and you don’t even _care_!”

“Girls,” Madame Bustier said sharply. “Lila, that was a very un-kind thing to say. I don’t want you talking that way about Marinette, do you understand?”

Lila scowled and crossed her arms. “But it’s true.”

“Lila,” Madame Bustier said again, narrowing her eyes.

“Fine. But Alya told me to shut up!” Lila said.

“And Alya knows better than to use that language,” Madame Bustier said, never once looking away from Lila. Normally this would’ve been the moment when Madame Bustier asked Alya to apologize, but Adrien noticed that she didn’t this time. Lila clearly noticed it too because her scowl deepened.

“Madame Bustier, have they told the police about Marinette?” Adrien asked before Lila could press the issue. Frankly, Lila didn’t deserve an apology.

Madame Bustier finally turned away from Lila, nodding. “Yes, they have. The police have already begun searching for her. But we all have to do our part too.”

“We should all go out after school and look for Marinette!” Nino said. His suggestion was meant with a general murmur of enthusiasm from everyone except for Lila – and for Adrien. As much as he wanted to help look for Marinette, he realized that this was the perfect chance to get Lila alone.


	19. Social media

When the bell rang for lunch, Lila was out of her seat like a shot. Adrien had started to get up, but he sat back down as he watched her cross the classroom and come to a stop in front of Alya. By the time that Alya looked up, Lila already had the crocodile tears going. It took everything Adrien had not to roll his eyes as Lila dramatically took Alya’s hands and clasped them to her chest.

“Oh Alya, I hope you’re not mad at me! I didn’t mean to say that,” Lila cried. “I’m just really upset.”

“Upset about what?” Alya said, which was a mistake in Adrien’s book. It was offering Lila the perfect opportunity, and sure enough Lila took it.

“I found this morning that my grandmother passed away,” Lila said loudly, and a ripple of gasps spread through the room. “And then, to come to school and find out that Marinette is missing, it just pushed me over the edge. I just said that because I didn’t want to admit that maybe I had something to do with it. I shouldn’t have said anything about Marinette at all!”

“You’re right, you shouldn’t have,” Adrien muttered.

Alya spoke over him as she stood up. “I’m really sorry about your grandmother, Lila. But that was a terrible thing to say about Marinette.”

“I know. Please forgive me,” Lila said, tears rolling down her cheeks. 

Adrien wondered if it was his imagination that Alya looked a little uncomfortable as Lila hugged her. Was it too much to hope that Alya had noticed that Lila hadn’t actually apologized? 

“Sure,” Alya said finally, gently pushing Lila away. “I forgive you. Do you want to come with us to look for Marinette this afternoon?”

“I can’t. I have to be with my family,” Lila said. “My mother is heartbroken, you see. She spent all last night crying in the bathroom. I didn’t get any sleep at all last night.”

“Of course,” Alya said, and much to Adrien’s dismay she actually looked sympathetic now. He wanted to grab Alya by the shoulders and shake some sense into her. Didn’t she remember that Lila had told the class that all of her grandparents were dead? Of course, to bring that up now would do absolutely nothing. Lila would just claim that Adrien was misremembering or invent a step-grandparent or something like that.

“Dude, you wanna go grab lunch?” Nino said, turning to Adrien.

“Nah, you guys go ahead,” Adrien said. He didn’t think he could stomach eating lunch with Alya and Lila right now. He watched the rest of the class file out until he was alone in the room, and then he put his head down on the desk and groaned. 

“My god that girl is lucky your classmates are so oblivious,” said Plagg. “If anyone in your class actually bothered to remember what she said, she’d be screwed.” He poked his head out of Adrien’s pocket, then crawled out onto the desk.

“They’re too nice. They don’t want to think that Lila is capable of lying the way she does,” Adrien muttered. It was an easy trap to fall into. He had given Lila the benefit of the doubt at first too, until Lila’s behavior became so egregious that he couldn’t ignore it any longer. And of course, his classmates only got to see how Lila acted from one perspective. Chat Noir’s opinion of Lila Rossi was a lot different from Adrien Agreste’s.

“I remain more grateful by the day that she wasn’t in town when Fu was handing out the miraculous,” Plagg said.

Adrien shuddered. “God, Lila with the power of destruction… can you imagine?”

“I don’t have to. I’ve had a few Black Cats like _her_ in my day. Never again.” Plagg shook his head for emphasis. 

“So does that mean you don’t like people like her?” Adrien asked.

Plagg immediately looked wary. “Why?”

“Because I’m going to trap Lila and get her to confess to what she did to Marinette, but I need you to be around to film it. Then I’m going to send it to everyone and even post it to social media,” Adrien said. He was fully prepared to break out the bribery, but much to his surprise he didn’t need it. Plagg nodded enthusiastically.

“I can absolutely do that,” he said. “But if you want that brat to cuddle up to you, you should probably go have lunch with them and pretend like everything is fine.”

“Ugh, you’re right,” Adrien realized, making a face. He needed Lila to be in a good mood, and that meant pandering to her. He sighed heavily as he stood up.

The things he did for girls with pigtails.


	20. Scared

Lunch was just as exhausting and frustrating as Adrien suspected it would be. Lila held court, doling out bits and pieces about her grandmother and the current state of her family. All of which were lies, he was sure. The thought of calling Lila’s mother up to offer his condolences was tempting. Too tempting. He had to sit on his hands to keep himself from doing it.

But that didn’t stop him from leaning over and whispering in Alya’s ear. “You know, it would be great if everyone in the class could go to the funeral. Just to show their support.”

“Yeah, it would be. Why don’t you say something?” Alya said, keeping her voice equally quiet.

“I’d hate to bring it up and then not be able to go. Nathalie was telling me this morning that my schedule is going to get even busier with the new spring line coming,” Adrien said. He didn’t have an ounce of guilt for lying right to Alya’s face, especially since it wasn’t technically a lie. Nathalie had said no such thing, but Adrien’s schedule always became busier in the spring and summer.

Alya’s expression became thoughtful and she glanced at Lila. Adrien sat back, knowing that sometimes it was better to let Alya make her own decisions with just a nudge in the right direction, and fought not to smirk as Lila continued to drone on about how crushed her mother was. And then Lila sealed her own fate: she started sighing over how sad she was, and how hard the funeral was going to be –

“When is it?” Alya asked abruptly.

Lila looked startled by the question, but she recovered quickly. “Uh – I’m not sure yet. My mom hasn’t told me.”

“Well, you just let us know when it is. We’ll be there to support you,” Alya said, glancing around at the rest of the table. Mylène, Rose, Juleka, Nathaniel and Ivan all nodded solemnly.

“O-Oh,” Lila stammered. “You don’t have to do that!”

“We want to,” Rose said, laying her hand over Lila’s. “We’re your friends.”

“Right,” Lila said, pasting on a weak smile. Adrien was positive that within the next few days, she would come up with a story about how her grandmother’s funeral had to be private. Or maybe, knowing Lila, she might even say that her grandmother want to be buried in Italy and so of course the class couldn’t come, and then she wouldn’t come to school for a few days to make the lie look more believable. 

The moment was glossed over quickly, as Lila turned to Nathaniel and started talking about a famous comic book artist that she knew. Adrien was almost positive that this had come up before, but Nathaniel fell for it hook, line and sinker. He even brought out his comics, which he usually kept very private, and started showing them to Lila. That’s when Adrien slipped away.

He made his way back towards the classroom, but he hadn’t gone far before he realized that someone was following him. It was a familiar feeling, so he wasn’t surprised to see that that someone was Alya. Adrien stopped and turned to look at her with a raised eyebrow.

“Is there a reason you’re stalking me?” he asked with a small smile.

Alya had a strange, intense look on her face as she said, “You don’t like Lila very much, do you?”

Adrien glanced around, but they were alone. So he decided to be honest. “No, I don’t.”

“Is it because of Marinette?” Alya said, narrowing her eyes.

“Partially,” Adrien admitted.

“Is it because you like Marinette?” Alya asked. 

Adrien blinked at her. “Pardon me?”

“Well, Marinette and Lila don’t like each other because of you. So I thought…” Alya folded her arms over her chest. “Are you like, scared to ask Marinette out because of how you think Lila will react? Did Marinette confess to you and you turned her down? Is _that_ why she’s gone?”

Adrien blinked several more times.

“Did my best friend get her heart broken over this?” Alya pressed, and she sounded close to tears now.

“I –” Adrien started, then stopped. His brain felt suspiciously blank. 

“Oh shit,” Alya whispered, clasping a hand over her mouth. “That’s what happened, isn’t it? Marinette told you she loved you and you said no because of Lila? Shit.” She turned and hurried away.

“Alya, wait! What? No!” Adrien called after her, but Alya had already fled the school. Adrien stared after her blankly.

What did she _mean_ , Marinette loved him?!


	21. Daydream

Alya didn't come back to the classroom for the rest of the day, which Adrien thought was probably a good thing. He resumed his seat next to Nino and pretended to pay attention as Madame Bustier started telling them about their next project - he probably did a crappy job of it and looked more like he was daydreaming. Because in reality, he couldn't stop thinking about what Alya had blurted out.

Marinette was in love with him? Really? _Him_? He had always assumed that her sometimes awkward behavior was because of him and his lack of social skills, since Marinette didn't act that weirdly around anyone else. Well, actually that wasn't true. He stared down at his book as he realized that Marinette had, on occasion, exhibited the same behavior around Luka. And while she wasn't dating Luka that Adrien knew of, Nino had confirmed once that Marinette had a crush on Luka. So did that mean Alya was telling the truth?

"Alright, class. I'm going to give you some time to discuss your project with your partner," Madame Bustier said.

"So, what do you think?" Nino said, picking up his history book. "Do you want to do the project on -"

"Is Marinette in love with me?" Adrien demanded.

Nino dropped his book. His mouth open and closed soundlessly. The look on his face told Adrien everything that Adrien needed to know.

"Oh my god. I'm such an idiot," Adrien groaned, dropping his head on his desk. "How long has this been going on for? How could I have not noticed?!"

"Wait, back the train up," Nino said faintly. "How did you figure it out?"

"Alya told me."

"Alya _told you_?!" Nino exclaimed, much louder than Adrien was comfortable with. He didn’t want anyone else finding out what they were talking about.

"Shh!" Adrien hissed. "Yes, Alya told me. She thinks that Marinette confessed to me and that I turned her down because of Lila." He actually wasn't sure why Alya would think that Adrien would turn Marinette down because of Lila, but that wasn't what he was focused on right now regardless.

"Oh shit. Is that what happened?" Nino asked, looking worried.

"No! Nino, seriously, how long has Marinette been..." He couldn't bring himself to say the words 'in love with me'.

Nino's expression was torn. He was quiet for a moment, clearly deliberating, before he sighed. "Since like, the day you two met."

"Shit," Adrien breathed, feeling like the world's biggest idiot. All that time and he'd been utterly oblivious to poor Marinette. He'd thought they were just friends, and she...

"Hey," Nino said, leaning closer. "It's not your fault. Marinette never said anything, and you're not that great the whole - you know. People thing." He gestured awkwardly. 

"You don't get it, Nino," Adrien said miserably. "I failed her. In so many ways. I -" He swallowed hard, unable to put into words what he was feeling. But he knew that was the truth. All of them had failed Marinette.

"Dude..." Nino sighed. "That's not true. Like I said, you didn't know. Yeah, it would've been great if you had noticed on your own, but you didn't and that's not the end of the world. You're not like... obligated to return her feelings or anything like that. Unless you do feel that way." He looked at Adrien expectantly.

"I don't know how I feel," Adrien admitted. 

On the one hand, there was Ladybug. The girl he'd be pining over, who was currently staying in his bedroom, who had hugged his arm last night and kissed his cheek.

But on the other hand, there was Marinette. His sweet, caring, fiery friend who had also kissed his cheek once and who needed him right now. 

Well, Ladybug needed him too. But unlike Ladybug, he could actually help Marinette.

"That's okay," Nino said, drawing Adrien's attention back to him. "You don't have to decide immediately. Marinette's not even here." His face tightened as he remembered _why_ Marinette wasn't here. 

Adrien glanced over at Lila. "Say, after class could you get everyone out of here? I want to talk to Lila."

"Why?" Nino asked warily. "I hope you're not planning on doing anything stupid."

"It's not going to be stupid," Adrien said, very softly. He couldn't think about the fact that Marinette was in love with him right now. But knowing just made him even more determined to go through with his plan. There was no one else in Marinette's corner right now; he was going to get justice for her no matter what.


	22. 25,913

As class finally neared its end, Adrien slipped his phone out of his pocket and into Plagg’s waiting grasp. In the chaos of Adrien’s classmates getting up and leaving, Plagg darted away. Adrien didn’t watch to see where his kwami went. Instead, he stood up and walked over to Lila.

“I know you have to get home, but could I talk to you for a moment?” he asked Lila.

“Sure!” Lila said with a big smile, taking her seat again. It didn’t escape Adrien’s notice that Lila was having no trouble walking on her ankle, even though she’d made such a big deal about Marinette pushing her down the stairs. He clenched his hands into fists behind his back and forced a smile. It was a relief when Nino, after casting a worried look at Adrien, shut the door and left them alone.

“I wanted to ask you about your ankle. Seems like it’s fine now,” Adrien began.

“My mom has this special ointment you put on. It takes pain away in minutes,” Lila lied without skipping a beat. Her skill at lies was truly unprecedented, but Adrien was determined to crack her.

“Really,” he said. “Could I borrow some of it? I often get bruises during fencing, so that ointment would be really helpful.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. I used the last of it on my ankle,” Lila replied.

“That’s okay. Just tell me who made it. I can order some myself,” Adrien said.

“I think it was one of my mom’s friends. She probably wouldn’t want me giving the name out,” Lila said quickly.

She was really good at this, Adrien realized. She had an answer for everything. He stared at her for a moment, wondering how exhausting it had to be to constantly keep track of the lies that you told people. Did Lila ever worry that someone was going to pay enough attention to notice that what she said was so inconsistent? Probably not. She’d just lie more.

Facing her was daunting, but Adrien wasn’t going to give up. He had faced countless akuma as Chat Noir – hell, he had used Second Chance 25,913 times to try and save Ladybug from Desperada. He hadn’t given up then, but in the end he had had to change tactics. Perhaps that was what he needed to do now. 

“Drop the act, Lila,” he said bluntly. “I know you stole those test answers and framed Marinette. I also know you took your necklace and put it in Marinette’s locker, and that you only pretended to be pushed down the stairs.”

Lila’s eyes widened. “What? Adrien, what are you talking about? I didn’t do any of that!” Yet her chin firmed, mouth pressing into a thin line at the accusation. She was wary now.

“I don’t believe you,” Adrien told her. “Marinette would never do anything like that.”

“How do you know? Marinette has hated me from day one,” said Lila. 

“Really? It seems more like the other way around to me. Marinette is kind and sweet and friendly. She helps out everyone and never –”

_Wham!_

Adrien stopped, shocked.

Lila used the hand she’d slammed down on her desk to push herself up, eyes glittering. “Because Marinette is oh so perfect,” she spat. “So perfect that she could _never_ do anything wrong, right?”

Somehow, Adrien had found Lila’s weak spot. He hoped that Plagg had the camera ready as he looked right into Lila’s face.

“You have it absolutely right. Marinette is one of my best friends. I care a lot about her, and I don’t appreciate people making up lies to make her look bad.”

“You need better taste, Adrien,” Lila said coolly. “Marinette couldn’t even defend herself. All I had to do was cry a little bit and Principle Damocles fell for it hook, line and sinker. And Madame Bustier… pfft.” She snorted. “What kind of teacher falls for an anonymous note?”

“It really worked out well for you that Madame Bustier didn’t have Marinette re-take a different test covering the same topic. Marinette would’ve scored perfectly again and then Madame Bustier would’ve seen that Marinette didn’t need to steal anything,” Adrien said.

Lila scoffed. “Please. Madame Bustier isn’t smart enough for that.”

Adrien had to fight back a smile, knowing how angry their teacher and their principle would be when they saw this, but kept calm. After all, Lila hadn’t actually _admitted_ anything yet. There was still a chance she could talk her way out of this. He had to keep pushing until there was no doubt in anyone’s mind that Lila really had set Marinette up.

So he said, “And the whole stealing your necklace thing? Marinette is an amazing, talented, established designer. What use would she have for a gaudy trinket like that?”


	23. Safety

“You didn’t think that necklace was so gaudy the first time you saw it,” Lila said. There was an ugly, angry look on her face that, under any other circumstances, probably would’ve made Adrien back down. But he couldn’t.

He was doing this for Marinette.

“That was before I knew you lied to me about it,” he shot back. “Or don’t you remember telling me that your necklace was a Miraculous? Funny how now it’s just a priceless heirloom from your grandmother. Did it lose its magical properties somewhere along the way?”

Lila flushed. “What can I say? You liked superheroes. You can’t blame the new girl for wanting people to like her.”

“I absolutely _can_ blame you. You lied to me, Lila. You’ve _been_ lying to me all along. How could you ever think I would be interested in someone who lies?” Adrien said. “Marinette isn’t perfect, but at least she’s never lied to me.”

“That you know of. I’ll bet there’s plenty that Marinette’s lied to you about,” Lila snapped.

“It wouldn’t matter. I _trust_ Marinette. I could _never_ trust you,” Adrien said, looking her in the eye. So he saw the exact moment she registered what he’d said: her head jerked back as though he’d reached out and slapped her. He was suddenly grateful that Plagg was recording this encounter. It hadn’t occurred to him until now that he was potentially putting himself at risk, but he was. If Lila was willing to lie about Marinette, there was nothing stopping her from lying about Adrien.

“Fine,” Lila hissed out through gritted teeth. “I just wanted to be close to you, but now I see how it’s going to be. You’re going to regret this, Adrien Agreste. I’m going to think up things that will make your life a misery.” She moved out from behind her desk and down a step so that they were on the same level. “Your father is going to hear all about how terrible your friends are. Maybe I’ll even tell him your girlfriend got expelled. And hey, maybe next time Madame Bustier will find notes in _your_ backpack.”

“So you did put the notes in Marinette’s backpack,” Adrien said quickly.

Lila sneered at him. “Of course I did. You really think that goody-goody would ever do something like that? Marinette doesn’t have the imagination, never mind the nerve. Everyone thinks she’s _so_ perfect. It drives me crazy. I had to do something to make sure that people realize what a little bitch she is.”

Adrien’s mouth dropped open. “Lila!”

“Shut up! Don’t try to pretend like you don’t know what I’m talking about,” Lila said. “The day I started here, her name was mentioned about fifteen times in ten minutes. People couldn’t say enough good things about her. It was annoying, but I didn’t really care. But then she started trying to expose me! She was telling people that I was lying!”

“You _were_ lying!”

“That’s not the point. The point is, Marinette had two choices. She could sit down, be quiet, and be my friend, or she could be my enemy. It’s not my fault she chose the latter.” Lila put her hands on her hips. “I had to do something to get her out of the way.”

“So you set her up,” Adrien said, feeling more disgusted by the second. He regretted telling Marinette that she shouldn’t say anything about Lila. At the time, he’d had no idea just how far Lila was willing to go. She was out of control.

“She made it so easy,” Lila said with a derisive laugh. “I put my necklace in her locker and she didn’t even notice because she was late, as usual. She was so distracted by you that I was able to put the notes in her backpack. And when I laid down at the bottom of the stairs, she just stood there and gawked at me like an idiot. You’ve chosen a real winner, Adrien.”

Pure fury flashed through him and before he knew it, he was looming over Lila. “Marinette is a hundred times the person you’ll ever be,” he hissed. “You _leave her alone_ from now on, do you understand me?”

Lila looked shaken. “Are you threatening me?”

“That’s a promise,” Adrien told her, and he meant it. Had he been transformed, his claws would’ve been at her throat.

“Well, I’m not scared of you,” Lila lied, quickly retreating to safety by the classroom door. “Or Marinette. You’ll both see what Lila Rossi is really capable of!” She pulled the door open and fled, closing it behind her as she went.


	24. Can't sleep

“That girl is a real winner,” Plagg observed, flying down with Adrien’s cell phone in paw.

“I can’t believe she’s such a horrible person,” Adrien said, taking the phone. “I feel terrible. I had no idea she was like that. Poor Marinette has been dealing with _that_ for weeks.”

He stared down at his phone, anger changing swiftly to guilt and regret. He should’ve tried to talk to Marinette more about Lila. Marinette hadn’t seemed to want to discuss it, but Adrien was sure there was more to the story that he was missing. He’d thought Lila was like his father. The kind of person where it was easier to just not provoke them. He hadn’t realized that Lila was the sort to do the provoking.

“Luckily, thanks to your excellent cameraman, you’ve got all the proof you need to ruin her,” Plagg said with a smirk. “Post away.”

Normally, Adrien might’ve felt a little guilty about posting that sort of video online. Right now, he felt nothing but grim satisfaction as he uploaded it to his Instagram. He had enough followers that it would be all over the place in no time, but there was one person in particular who needed to see it immediately. He swept Plagg into his pocket, grabbed his backpack, and left the room at a run.

He was just in time: his target was just leaving his office. Adrien rushed up and said, “Principal Damocles! Can I talk to you for a moment?”

Principal Damocles turned and looked at him with a frown. “If this is about Mlle Dupain-Cheng, I don’t want to hear it.”

“Well, you’re going to hear it,” Adrien said boldly. “Or I’ll have my best friend Chloé call up her father and let the mayor know that the principal of Collège Françoise Dupont isn’t listening to students. I bet that won’t look very good.” He tried to look as intimidating as possible. He didn’t like using his friendship with Chloé like this, even though there was no doubt in his mind that Chloé would do it without hesitation.

There was a pause, and then Principal Damocles sighed. “You have ten minutes.”

“It won’t even take that long,” Adrien said, taking his phone out of his pocket. The whole encounter with Lila seemed to have lasted for ages, but probably hadn’t been more than five or six minutes. He turned the volume up and handed his phone over. 

Principal Damocles took it and started to watch. Adrien thoroughly enjoyed watching his reaction. First he was puzzled, then angry when Lila started insulting him and Madame Bustier, then _really_ mad when he got to the part where Lila openly admitted to framing Marinette. By the end of the video, Principal Damocles’ face was chalk white except for two blazing red spots on his cheeks.

“Thank you, Adrien,” he said very quietly. “It seems I need to have a conversation with Lila’s mother and Marinette’s parents. Would you mind forwarding this video to my email?”

“Certainly,” Adrien said, trying not to sound smug, and took his phone back to do just that. “Principal Damocles, this is enough to get Marinette back to school, right?”

“I can’t discuss that with you,” Principal Damocles said, sounding distracted, and unlocked his office door. He went inside, closing the door behind him.

“But I need to know,” Adrien told the door, disappointed.

Plagg poked his head out, yawning. “You’ve done your part, kid. Now let the principal take it from here. I, for one, am glad the excitement is over. I can’t sleep when you’re so wound up!”

“Now you’re the one telling lies,” Adrien said, frowning down at his phone. Tons of notifications were already popping up about Lila; he could tell that his video had already migrated to Facebook and Twitter. Even if Principal Damocles didn’t do what he was supposed to, Lila wasn’t going to get away with this. News of her behavior was spreading like wildfire. Her reputation was going to be in the toilet.

He sighed and tucked his phone back into his pocket, realizing that he was going to have to wait to find out what happened with Marinette. But at least it wasn’t all bad. He finally smiled, realizing that, once he was done with his lessons, he’d be able to go home and tell Ladybug what he’d done. Maybe then she would let him help her out with her problem too.


	25. Trapped

It was late by the time that Adrien got home. His head was spinning with Mandarin verbs and sentence structures as he walked into the mansion. A meagre, boring supper of salad and a chicken breast awaited him. He ate, wondering if Ladybug would want to go get some pastries later, before heading up to room. He pushed the door open, fully expecting to see Ladybug waiting for him –

But his room was empty.

He stood there for a moment, frozen. Of course it made sense that she wasn’t there. Maybe she had solved her problem on her own and gone home. He couldn’t expect her to stick around forever, after all. Ladybug had a family that was probably very worried about her, considering that she hadn’t been home for two nights. It was a _good_ thing that she had gone.

So why did it feel so hollow?

Adrien sighed and made his way into the room, pushing the door shut behind him. He dumped his homework out on the desk and was contemplating whether he should start with math or English when the familiar sound of his window opening made him jump. Startled, he spun around just in time to see Ladybug clambering through said window with a bag under her arm.

“Oh, hey,” she chirped. “I was trying to make it back before you got home. How was your day?”

“It was – it was pretty good,” Adrien said, swallowing against an unexpected wave of emotion at the sight of her. 

Ladybug smiled at him and held up the bag. “I popped out to get Chinese. I thought you might be hungry.”

“Yes please.” He might have just eaten, but the handful of cartons she was unpacking smelled divine. He quickly abandoned his desk and moved to join her by the couch, helping her to empty the bag. She had even thought to get chopsticks, so he didn’t need to sneak down to the kitchen. She was amazing.

“Mm, I love Chinese. No one makes it like my maman, but I have to say this is a pretty close second,” Ladybug said, popping the lid off of a carton. “Help yourself. I got lots.”

Adrien paused, his chopsticks hovering over a carton of noodles, and looked at her carefully. “Hey Ladybug?”

“Yeah?”

“Did you by any chance look at any social media this afternoon?” He knew that she could access the internet on her yoyo because he could do that on his baton. Of course, it was never safe to sign in on any personal accounts just in case something went wrong, but she still would’ve been able to see information about Lila.

“Umm… not really,” Ladybug said, popping a piece of chicken in her mouth. “I’ve been trying _not_ to look at it, actually. I don’t really want to see anything from my family or friends right now.”

“Well, you’re going to want to see this,” Adrien told her, passing over his phone. Too nervous to watch her face, he bent his head to a container of vegetables and focused on trying to pick up a piece of broccoli. Finally, he trapped it against the corner of the carton and managed to pick it up. As he put it into his mouth, he heard Ladybug give a quiet gasp.

“Adrien… you…” Ladybug trailed off, one gloved hand pressed to her mouth.

“I had to,” Adrien said to his vegetables. “Lila way overstepped her bounds. I was willing to look the other way if she was just telling silly little lies. I mean, if our classmates were so desperate to believe the frankly ridiculous things she was saying, that was up to them. I didn’t think it was my place to convince them otherwise, especially when Marinette had already tried and failed. But Lila went _way too far_ by getting Marinette expelled. No one else was doing anything, so I had to – whoa!”

Adrien let out a surprised yelp as Ladybug suddenly sprang at him; her weight drove him back against the couch and pushed all of the air out of his lungs. If Ladybug noticed, she gave no indication. She was too busy throwing her arms around his neck and hugging him with what felt like a good portion of, if not all, of her strength. He tried to remember how to breathe as he got his hands around her waist.

“L-Ladybug?” he wheezed out.

“Adrien?” Nathalie’s voice, accompanied by a knock on the door, made them both freeze.


	26. Miss Fortune

“Adrien, I heard you cry out. Are you okay?” Nathalie asked through the door.

“I’m fine!” Adrien said. “I just tripped over my bookbag, that’s all.” What rotten luck that Nathalie would be walking by his bedroom at that exact moment. He held Ladybug tighter and hoped that Nathalie wouldn’t feel compelled to open the door to check on him. 

“Okay,” Nathalie said. “You have some free time between doing your homework and bedtime. Clean your room.”

Adrien rolled his eyes. “Yes, Nathalie.” He held his breath, both of them tense, until they heard the sound of Nathalie’s heels clicking away down the hall.

“Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry,” Ladybug whispered, pulling back. Her eyes were bright with tears and her face was flushed with embarrassment. She wouldn’t look at him, instead wringing her hands together.

“It’s fine,” Adrien said, giving her a small smile anyway. It might have been an overstep, but he couldn’t stop himself from placing his hand over hers. She stared down at their hands for a moment before lacing their fingers together – so he reached out and took her free hand to do the same thing. Now they were looking at each other, holding hands, with the remains of Chinese food scattered around them.

“You could’ve gotten yourself in a lot of trouble,” Ladybug said. “Lila is – I mean, she seems like a really mean girl. What if that had backfired?”

“It wouldn’t be the first time people have talked poorly about me,” Adrien replied ruefully, having learned young that people weren’t always kind to celebrities. His father would’ve been mad, but that was nothing new.

Ladybug frowned. “But Lila could’ve targeted you personally.”

“It was worth it, Ladybug. Like I said, no one else was doing anything. Especially now that they’re all preoccupied with Marinette disappearing.” Adrien sighed as Ladybug tensed again. “I think they think it’s because she got caught, but I know it’s because no one really believed her over Lila.”

“No one except you,” Ladybug said softly.

“Fat lot of good I did. I couldn’t even stick up for Marinette and she started getting akumatized,” Adrien said.

“Miss Fortune,” Ladybug murmured, dropping her eyes.

“What?”

She lifted her head, meeting his gaze. “Adrien, if I – if I told you something, would you keep it a secret?”

“Of course,” he said, hoping that she was going to finally open up about her problems. He didn’t even care anymore that she would be confiding in Adrien Agreste, not Chat Noir, so long as she confided in _someone_. Ladybug always tried to handle too much on her own. She forgot that there were people around her – or, well, in this case a person – who wanted to support her.

“And if I asked you a question, would you answer me honestly?” she asked.

His confusion deepened, but Adrien nevertheless nodded. “Yes. You can ask me anything, Ladybug.” He gently squeezed her hands and gave her another, more encouraging smile, hoping that she would find comfort in it. In him.

She smiled back, her expression soft. “You are so good to me. Too good.”

“Considering everything you do for the city, I disagree,” Adrien said. “Without you, Paris would be lost.”

“There’s Chat Noir too,” she reminded him, and Adrien shrugged.

“Chat Noir does what he can, but everyone knows that you’re the most important one. You’re the one who comes up with the plans to defeat the akumas. You’re the one who can purify them and repair the damage that they do. You’re Paris’s superhero, My – Ladybug.” He cleared his throat, hoping she hadn’t caught his stumble. 

Her cheeks pinked. “Your Ladybug?”

“Ah. Well.” Adrien knew he was blushing now. He hadn’t meant for that to come out; sometimes Ladybug got too caught up in her own head, and as Chat he was used to giving her little pep talks to help boost her confidence. Sometimes it was too easy to forget who was sitting across from her, holding her hands.

“I like the sound of that,” Ladybug said shyly.

“You – you do?” Adrien said. His heart started to pound. He was suddenly glad that Ladybug was transformed. It was frustrating not to be able to feel her bare hands against his, but it would’ve been mortifying if she could’ve felt how sweaty his palms were getting.

“But first…”

“But first?” he repeated.

Ladybug took a deep breath, looked right at him, and asked, “Adrien, are you Chat Noir?”


	27. Fashion show

Adrien stared at her, his smile slowly fading.

For a split second, he thought that maybe she was joking.

But as the silence dragged on, and Ladybug’s expression remained serious, he realized that she wasn’t.

“Wh-what?” Adrien stammered finally. “Whaaaaaaaaat?” He dragged the word out, scrambling to think. “L-Ladybug, that’s crazy! Chat Noir is way too cool to be someone like me. I could never be anything like that suave, amazing superhero who makes clever puns and manages to save the day while looking so cool!” He laughed wildly, rubbing at the back of his neck.

Ladybug was now giving him a deadpan look. Adrien lasted all of ten seconds under that look before he cracked.

“Too much?” he asked sheepishly, dropping his hand back into his lap. His opposite hand remained in hers, which he thought was a good sign – at least she hadn’t pushed him away and fled.

“I’ve never been more sure that you’re Chat Noir in my life,” she said dryly.

He sighed. “What gave me away?”

“I wasn’t 100% sure until right now, but there were loads of things. You got my café order perfect. You didn’t just guess what I wanted, you knew _exactly_ how I like my tea,” she said. “And that night you first found me on the roof, I actually thought you were Chat before I realized it was you. It was your hair; that’s what got my attention. I had doubled back because I wanted to tell Chat…”

“Tell me what?” he prompted gently when she trailed off.

Ladybug just shook her head. “Your room smells of Camembert,” she went on. “Which I know that Plagg loves, and which you’ve been very clear that you don’t. Then there was Tikki. I know Adrien was familiar with kwamis, but how did you know that Tikki only eats cookies? Only Chat Noir could know that.”

Adrien winced. “I didn’t even think of that.”

“And then there was the fact that Chat hasn’t tried to contact me once. I knew he was worried when we separated that night, but he didn’t message me at all. So I snuck out last night after you fell asleep, expecting to see him last night, but he didn’t show up. So I thought, Chat wouldn’t need to worry if he already knew where I was…”

“I’ve really messed up, haven’t I?” Adrien said, shoulders slumping, but Ladybug shook her head.

“No. I think it was probably inevitable,” she said quietly. “Still, I wasn’t 100% sure until just now, when you gave me that pep talk and almost called me ‘My Lady’.”

“It’s instinct,” Adrien admitted.

Her smile softened. “I know. I actually dismissed the idea that you were Chat Noir once before, but this time… with all this overwhelming evidence… I’m sorry for outing you. We agreed we’d keep our identities secret, but it didn’t seem right for me to know, or at least suspect, without telling you.”

Adrien sat in silence for a moment, thinking about that. About how it changed things.

On the one hand, it was a relief that he didn’t have to hide himself anymore.

On the other hand, it was so unfair: he had always been the one who yearned to know who she was, not the other way around.

Still, he wasn’t going to say as much to her. That would be rude, and pressure was honestly the _last_ thing that Ladybug needed right now.

“So you’re okay with it?” he asked, just to be sure.

“Yeah, I am,” she said, and he could tell that he meant it.

“Okay then,” Adrien said. He looked around at the food which had gone flying and winced when he imagined Nathalie’s face if she saw it. As punishment, she’d probably encourage Gabriel to schedule a fashion show and that was not what _he_ needed right now.

“Okay?” Ladybug echoed, sounding startled. “That’s it?”

“I’m not sure what else you want me to say.”

“You don’t want to know who I am?” she asked in a small voice, and Adrien couldn’t help a disbelieving laugh. Ladybug flinched and went to pull her hand away; he tightened his grip before she could and spoke quickly.

“Are you serious? Bugaboo, I’ve always wanted to know who you were. You know that. But I respect you too much to pry it out of you when you’ve made it clear that you’re not ready. Right now, I’ll be honest and say I’m disappointed that I can’t help you with whatever problem you’re having. I wish I could.” He squeezed her hand gently. “It kills me to see you upset. These past two days have been awful.”

“You’ve already helped me,” Ladybug said.

“I told you, anyone would’ve given you a place to stay –”

“No,” Ladybug interrupted. “That’s not what I mean.” She set her free hand overtop his, so that his hand was encased between hers, and whispered, “You dealt with Lila for me, Adrien. You stood up for me, and believed in me, when no one else did. Thank you.”


	28. My Heroine

Perhaps it should’ve been more of a shock.

But all Adrien could think was, _that makes so much sense_.

Of course Marinette was Ladybug. 

How could he not have put the pieces together before?

Marinette was missing at a time when Ladybug was suddenly around constantly. Ladybug had developed a problem with a ‘rival’ at the same time that Marinette had been framed by Lila. Ladybug had felt safe coming home him with because she knew him as Marinette. In retrospect, it was all so obvious that Adrien wanted to laugh at himself. Or maybe he just wanted to laugh out of sheer relief.

Because it turned out he didn’t need to figure out what he felt for Marinette after all.

He already knew.

“Is that… okay?” Ladybug asked tentatively, and he belatedly realized he’d been sitting there in silence for a long time. Probably while making weird faces. It was a wonder she hadn’t jumped out the window already.

“I’m so glad it’s you,” Adrien said, and he meant it. 

“Really?” Ladybug said, biting her lip.

“Yeah, really. I just… wow, I feel really stupid right now.” He thumped his forehead with the palm of his free hand. “The clues were right in front of me. I even thought you might be Ladybug at one point, but I talked myself out of it.”

“I appreciate that you didn’t put it together, actually,” she said shyly. “I was worried the whole time that I was here that you would.”

“Over the last couple days, I can honestly say it never even occurred to me,” he said honestly. “You’re sure it’s okay that I know?”

Ladybug shrugged. “I talked it over with Tikki. She thought it was time, and I did too. It’s still dangerous because of Hawkmoth, but sometimes I think it puts even more stress on us.” She stared down at their joined hands. “We can’t properly support each other. I couldn’t even tell you what happened to me. I couldn’t even tell you that I almost got akumatized, because then you’d ask me why. That’s not right.”

“No, it’s not,” Adrien agreed. “Can I hug you?”

She nodded, her eyes looking suspiciously damp, and let go of his hand in order to shift closer. Adrien wrapped his arms around her, realizing that she was trembling. His heart went out to her. He understood now why she didn’t want to go home. It must’ve been so hard thinking that her parents, classmates, and friends didn’t believe her about Lila. 

“I was so scared,” she confessed, hiding her face in his shirt. “I knew if I went home and stayed in my room by myself, I would definitely get akumatized.”

His stomach churned at the thought and he hugged her tighter. “I wish you could’ve told me. I understand why you couldn’t, but I hate that you felt that way and I didn’t even know.”

“You didn’t have to know, and you still stood up for me,” she whispered. “That’s more than anyone else did.”

They really had failed Marinette.

Adrien swallowed hard, pressing his cheek to her hair. “You really are my heroine,” he said quietly.

“Flattery will get you nowhere,” Ladybug said, clearly trying to make a joke, but it came out a shade too wobbly and she clung to him tighter, crawling into his lap. They had sat this way many times before as Ladybug and Chat Noir, but it was altogether something new to do it as Ladybug and Adrien.

He held her for a long time, until the sunlight coming through his windows had crept across the floor and slowly began to fade against the opposite wall as the sun started to set, and only then did Adrien slowly move. He put a hand to her chin and tilted Ladybug’s head up so that he could see her face; he wasn’t surprised to see that her face was streaked with tears.

But she was smiling. It was small, but it was there, and the sight of that smile lifted Adrien’s heart.

“My Lady?” he asked, searching her eyes for an answer to a question that he wasn’t sure he fully understood.

She kissed him.

Adrien tasted the tears on her lips as she drew back, her face flushed. 

“I saw a text from Alya,” she admitted. “She said she told you how I feel.”

He exhaled slowly, heart thudding remarkably quickly. “I’d like to hear it from you sometime, so that I could tell you how I feel too. Not right now, because… well… you know, but –”

She quieted him with a glove finger to his lips and another smile. “Sometime,” she agreed, blue eyes so soft and so, so warm, and that was more than enough.


	29. Sunset

“What am I going to do?” Ladybug asked, breaking the silence.

Adrien stared up at the ceiling. Not long after sunset, they’d cleaned the spilled food up, put the remainder in the fridge, and then returned to the couch. He was now flat on his back on the couch, and she was laying on top of him with her head facing the television even though it was shut off. His arms were wrapped around her waist. She had her left hand curled around the material of his shirt and her right hand dangling off the couch, occasionally stirring to scratch Plagg’s tummy.

“You mean about your parents?” he said, knowing immediately that that was what she was thinking about. It was the proverbial elephant in the room.

Marinette had been gone for two days now, though today was the first day anyone had realized it. This would be the third night – though again, no one had realized she’d been gone that first night. Her parents must have been going crazy; he knew that their classmates and the police had searched for her for hours. She couldn’t just show up at home. Not without a good explanation.

“They’re going to be really mad at me,” Ladybug said fretfully. “I know Maman will say I should’ve trusted her and Papa to make things right, but –”

“But they weren’t doing anything,” Adrien finished, sighing. He knew all too well what it was like for adults to say one thing and then do something else. If he hadn’t intervened, he wondered if Marinette would have ever returned to Collège Françoise Dupont. Most likely her parents would have enrolled her somewhere else, and Lila would have gotten away with it.

And then what? What about the next person that made Lila angry?

“No one was. What do you think will happen to Lila?”

“I don’t know. Principal Damocles said something about calling her mother. I would hope that means more of Lila’s lies will come to light,” Adrien said. Unless Lila’s mother was much of a liar as her daughter. He shuddered inwardly at the thought.

“I hope she doesn’t get akumatized again,” Ladybug muttered.

Adrien frowned. “I didn’t think of that.”

“Pfft, let her get akumatized,” Plagg interjected. “You can’t let people run around doing whatever they want just because calling them out might end up in them being akumatized. Consider how many people Lila’s behavior would’ve eventually affected.”

Ladybug lifted herself up so that she could see Adrien’s face. “He’s right.”

“Don’t tell him that. I’ll never hear the end of it,” Adrien groaned dramatically. It was enough to bring a small smile to Ladybug’s face.

“I don’t know what your problem is. Plagg seems like a real sweetheart to me,” she said.

“That’s because you don’t have to live with him,” Adrien told her.

“That should be my line,” Plagg said. “At least _I_ don’t moan constantly about the girl I’m in love with.” He clasped his paws to his chest and pitched his voice high. “Oh Plagg, what am I going to do? Ladybug doesn’t love me, and Marinette is just my friend! I’m so _confused_!”

Adrien sputtered and flushed. “That’s -! What about all the whining about cheese you do?!”

“Cheese is just good sense,” Plagg said seriously.

Ladybug giggled. “Okay, you two,” she said, sitting the rest of the way up. “As funny as this is, it’s not helping.”

Adrien cast Plagg one more glare before turning back to her as an idea struck him. “Wait, what if we let everyone think that Marinette got akumatized?”

“I’ve been gone for a while. Do you think they’d fall for that?” Ladybug said hesitantly.

“Why not? Maybe as an akuma, you were trying to go after Lila and you were waiting for the opportune moment. But Ladybug and Chat Noir figured you out first and were able to rescue you before anything bad happened. If you say you’re akumatized, they can’t ask you for details because akuma victims don’t remember anything. And it’ll seem possible because you _did_ almost get akumatized,” Adrien said reasonably, proud of himself.

“Isn’t that wrong, though?” she asked. “To lie like that?”

“You wanna tell them the truth?” he replied, raising an eyebrow. She could tell them an edited version if she wanted to, but that would mean a level of honesty he wasn’t sure she was comfortable with.

Sure enough, Ladybug slowly shook her head. “No. I don’t want to. We’ll go with that. Only – well, it’s not like there’s any video footage of me as an akuma. They might not believe me.”

“Course they will. The superhero Chat Noir is going to bring you home and vouch for your story,” Adrien said, grinning.

“Ah,” Ladybug murmured in understanding, and then she smiled too. “I guess we should go then.”

Adrien nodded. As much as he would miss having Ladybug around, he knew that it was time for her to go home. Still, as they both stood up, he couldn’t help pulling her into his arms and laying a gentle kiss on her lips. He loved that he could do that now, that he could kiss Ladybug or Marinette whether he was Adrien or Chat, and that she would happily reciprocate.

“Ready?” he whispered, leaning his forehead against hers.

“Yeah. Tikki, spots off!”

“Plagg, claws out!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just as a heads up, I won't be including the scene where Chat takes Marinette home because that would take the story out of Ladrien territory. Perhaps someday I'll write it as an "outtake". The next chapter will be an epilogue of sorts, wrapping up the story and summarizing what happens with Lila.


	30. Puns

Adrien whistled under his breath as he bounced up the stairs towards his room. It had been something of a hectic day after a long night; Marinette’s parents had sobbed buckets when Chat Noir carried their daughter into the bakery and had insisted on Chat joining them for a late night snack. Midnight had come and gone before Chat was able to extract himself and head home.

He muffled a yawn with his hand as he pushed the door to his room open. As much as he wanted to think that he was going to get a good night’s sleep tonight, it seemed unlikely. He and Ladybug hadn’t patrolled for three nights now. Marinette hadn’t shown up to school today, so chances were Ladybug wasn’t going to show up for patrol. He’d have to make a quick round himself – 

“Hi Adrien.”

“LB?” Adrien stopped in surprise as she stood up, smiling shyly.

“I hope you don’t mind,” she said, wringing her hands together. “I thought about texting you, but I haven’t looked at my phone all day and I wasn’t sure if I should what with… everything.”

“Of course I don’t mind,” Adrien said automatically, and then, when the rest of her words registered, he added, “Wait, you mean you don’t know what happened with Lila?”

“I know that my expulsion has been reversed. Principal Damocles called and gave me a personal apology. I almost feel bad for him. Papa said Maman gave him quite a hard time yesterday afternoon when she found out about Lila.” Ladybug gave him a sly smile and Adrien had to hold in a laugh. If Sabine’s temper was anything like Ladybug’s, then he almost felt sorry for the principal too.

Almost.

“But you didn’t come back today?” he asked.

Ladybug shook her head. “Maman and Papa thought I should take today and tomorrow off and wait to go back until Monday. They were really worried about me. They said I needed to take more time for myself.”

“I’m guessing they don’t know you’re here.”

“I slipped out,” she admitted. “Just for a bit. I needed to see you. They think I’m napping.” 

“I’m glad you came,” Adrien said, crossing the distance between them and pulling her into a hug. He knew she wouldn’t be able to stay for long, so he savored the feeling of her body in his arms. It had been hard to sleep last night without the sound of her breathing.

“So what happened today?” she asked, and he smiled into her hair. 

“With how curious you are, sometimes I think you should’ve been the cat.”

She huffed. “I have every right to be curious. Now stop _kitten_ -ing around and tell me!”

Adrien gasped. “Was that a pun?”

“No,” she lied.

He was tempted to hold out until she made another pun, but caved to the hopeful blue eyes that peeked up at him. “Okay, okay. Lila wasn’t there. Alya told me that Lila’s mother was furious. You remember when Lila told everyone that she was visiting Prince Ali?”

“Un- _fur_ -tunately.”

He grinned. “Well, it turns out that Lila had told her mother that the school was closed because of the akuma attacks. So Lila spent like two months just hanging out around the house. And everything else she said, the tinnitus and all that, was obviously a lie too. Principal Damocles was _not_ happy. He ended up expelling Lila.”

Ladybug gasped softly.

“And,” Adrien barrelled on, “we don’t have to worry about Lila becoming an akuma. She’s not in Paris anymore.”

“She’s not?” Ladybug breathed, her eyes wide.

“Nope. Madame Bustier confirmed that Lila’s mother sent her back to Italy last night.” He couldn’t help beaming. He didn’t know why Lila hadn’t become an akuma in the meantime – that still left several hours of unaccounted for time when Hawkmoth could’ve gotten to her. But maybe Hawkmoth had his own reasons for not using Lila as an akuma. Frankly, Adrien didn’t care why. He was just happy that Lila would never be a problem for them again.

“Wow,” Ladybug said. “Her mother must’ve been _really_ mad if she did that.”

“The point is, we never have to see her again,” Adrien said gleefully. 

“That’s… wow,” Ladybug said again, looking overwhelmed. “And… and everyone else?”

“They’re sorry,” he told her as gently as he could. “Alya said she tried to text you and call you; she was upset that you weren’t answering, but I told her that you probably needed some space.”

“Thank you,” Ladybug said. “I – I know I’ll have to talk to them. I _want_ to talk to them. Just – just not yet. I need to figure out what I’m going to say first.” She dropped her gaze. “They believe me now, but they didn’t before and that hurts.”

“I know,” he said quietly, hugging her again.

“What did they say to you?” she asked, snuggling into his embrace.

“Not much. The whole class seemed a little shell-shocked, to be honest,” he replied. No one had been acting like themselves, not even Madame Bustier or Chloé. He figured it would take a little while for them to get past what had happened.

“But they’re not angry with me anymore?”

“No,” he said, conscious of the way some of the tension drained out of her. “In fact, they’re madder at themselves now. Especially Alya. Some people left unflattering comments on Lila’s interview on the Ladyblog. She took it down, but now she’s going through the blog trying to figure out what else Lila told her that might have affected what she wrote.”

“Good,” Ladybug said grimly. “I hope that in the future, Alya’s a lot more careful about who she trusts.”

“I think she will be,” Adrien said, thinking about how Alya had looked that day. Disappointed and exhausted were two words that came to mind. He thought it was safe to say that Alya had learned a harsh lesson: having Marinette go missing had definitely scared her.

He thought about the rest of their class and amended that to, “I think they _all_ will be.” 

Her smile was fleeting. “You know what I really want to do right now?”

“What?”

“I don’t have much time, but I’d like to go for a run with my kitty,” she said, lacing their fingers together. “Would that be okay?”

“Of course,” Adrien said. “That sounds perfect, actually.” When they ran together, he was able to leave his stress, worries, and anxiety behind.

But first –

He used their intertwined fingers to pull her close again so that he could kiss her. This time he felt more than saw her smile as her free arm came up around his neck, fingers sliding into his hair. Adrien rested his free hand on her hip, stroking the fabric of her costume with his thumb. They kissed once, twice, three times, until Ladybug’s eyes were sparkling and her cheeks were pink when she pulled back.

“Let’s go, my prince,” she said, and his heart felt as though it was going to burst with how much he loved her.

“As you wish, My Lady.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> With that, Ladrien June is officially completed. Thank you so much for all of your kudos and comments. I hope that you will stick around for Ladynoir July.

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on [tumblr](https://tsuki-chibi.tumblr.com/).


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